by Nene Gare
Phyllix drew a deep breath of the cool clean night air. His shoulders straightened.
‘You don’t have to stay, Trilby. I won’t make you. I’ll even help you get away and give you some money so you can stay somewhere decent. Just remember but, I’m waiting back here for ya when you want me.’
Trilby only looked at him, unable for a moment to take in what he had said.
Phyllix gave her a little shake. ‘It’s all right,’ he told her.
Sudden tears wet Trilby’s face again. ‘What if I don’t come back?’
Phyllix sighed. ‘You might get tired of fighting, Trilby. An even places like the Berrings look good when ya tired.’
‘Rene said that,’ Trilby said slowly.
‘One other thing,’ Phyllix said, his hands firm again on her forearms. ‘Don’t you go thinking it would be like you said—with us. That’s not what I want neither, that drinkin an gamblin stuff. That’s why I always wanted you, Trilby.’
Because Trilby could see over Phyllix’s shoulder she was the first to see the stumbling figure of George.
‘Found ya,’ he said triumphantly, weaving towards them. ‘Come on, boy. I told ya. My turn now with the little gel.’
Trilby screamed in fear but Phyllix was up in a flash, between her and George. He snarled in his fury like an animal, his body crouching, his elbows crooked. Then the two figures merged and Trilby was alone, edging herself along the ground, her frightened eyes trying to distinguish between the two locked figures, the hard crack of blows on bare flesh making her wince.
The fight did not last long. One of the figures fell with a heavy crash and Trilby knew that it was George. Phyllix stood above him, still crouching, waiting to see if he should rise. But George only groaned and then lay still.
Trilby looked towards Phyllix, needing him near her still. She rose trembling to her feet, and the boy moved over towards her.
‘It’s all right,’ he told her as she nestled against him.
Trilby drew his head down to her and closed her eyes, exulting in the hard firmness of his body, pressing so close to him that she could feel the pounding of his heart as if it were her own.
‘Trilby, will you stay—for a while?’ Phyllix said at last, his need as great as her own.
Trilby nodded. Phyllix found her mouth and tasted salt from the tears that once again were seeping through her closed lids. She wanted to tell Phyllix what she knew he most wanted to hear—that she would stay not for a while, but for always. And she could not. The thing that lived in her heart would not let her. So long as she had youth and strength and pride, so long would she seek to escape this life.
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