Vulnerable [Frollie]

Chapter 10

Frankie jerked back, looking like she had been slapped in the face.

“What?” she asked, dumbfounded.

“You know what I said, Frankie,” Mollie said quietly. Her words hung between them like a thick curtain, separating them from each other.

Do you not want me anymore?

The words sliced through Frankie like a knife, working their ugly way underneath her ribcage and settling in her heart, stinging with a ferocious intensity with every beat.

“What?” Frankie said again, mind completely blank.

“Please Frankie,” Mollie said, and it was then that Frankie noticed how utterly exhausted she looked. She had dark shadows underneath her eyes, she looked pale and her cheeks were sunken. Her normally vibrant blue irises had lost their spark, her shoulders sagged, and her blonde hair was messy and unkempt. The worst part was that Frankie could tell Mollie was trying so hard to look happy for her sake, and that hurt almost more than Mollie’s burning question.

Frankie opened her mouth, floundering around for words, desperately trying to grab onto anything she could find. She was completely lost, though, utterly shell shocked and without a clue what to say.

Mollie was her everything, her world, she was so big and filled the endless black spaces with her light. She shone so bright she hurt to look at sometimes and warmed Frankie’s skin and put her back together again. Mollie did all the things no one else could; she made her laugh, smile, dance and sing. She was the light at the end of the tunnel, the voice in her ear whispering constant encouragement. She guided Frankie when she needed to be told what to do, and she let her learn and figure things out on her own when she needed to be independent. She was there at the end of a long day with cuddles, hot tea and a smile.

Mollie was everything Frankie wanted to be, she loved life and the people in it, she found joy in even the smallest of things, and she saw the best in the worst of people. She loved so hard and so strong that Frankie was almost knocked over with the crushing weight of it, but that love made her feel so whole and so important that she lived and breathed it. Mollie was smart, funny, beautiful, compassionate, patient, generous, talented, strong and loyal.

She was always there, always giving and never wanting anything in return, always laughing and smiling and loving and making people feel good. She was always touching and caressing and making Frankie feel beautiful. She gave everything she had, all day every day; throwing herself so headfirst into life it was shattering.

It was stunningly beautiful at the same time though, the way Mollie could let go and dive in, greet whatever adventure or challenge she was faced with, grab it by the horns and tell it a joke. Mollie was able to take so much out of life that Frankie couldn’t, she just didn’t know how. But Mollie was magical in the way that she taught Frankie every day how to live without even knowing it; she did so many things for Frankie without even knowing it, the little things that made the big picture so beautiful. Coming home with small presents, making Frankie tea, buying her favourite shampoo, making an effort to put the toothpaste cap on, trying to do the dishes, trying to cook, painting her pictures, taking her places and showing her things.