A look in Jimmy's eye caught her attention again. The smile disappeared, and the clarity to his eyes increased. "You do realize why they're scared of me?"
Mary couldn't outright lie. She shook her head. No one had explained to her why they were so scared of him. Their fear alone felt as if it should have been enough of a deterrent to stop her from looking at him the way she was looking at him.
"Then are you normally this stupid?"
She swallowed before speaking in a shaky voice. "Not normally, no."
There was a silence filled by more than one of her heartbeats, and then it broke with a quick burst of surprised laughter from him. He turned his smile on her and it completely changed his face. He not only looked their age, but he was so handsome that she knew exactly why she was being stupid.
"I'll explain it to you some time." He pushed off from the tree and stood up to his full height. He was tall, but lanky. Muscular, but wiry. "Thanks for the apple."
He turned to walk away from her, and she got the first full view she'd had of his tattoo since he'd started bringing Brandon to the center. It was large, more detailed than the tattoos of the others their age. It covered a large part of his back, the designs around the tattoo just the beginning. He was high in rank for someone so young. Normally, at their age, they only had the start, a skull or a little bit of design around the skull. It was why they were the ones always looking for the way to appear stronger and crueler than the others.
But Jimmy had already proven himself enough to be marked permanently. That had to be why he scared the others.
Intermission Three
She should have known better.
It was late at night and she was still groggy from re-reading one of her books by candle light when she heard the knock at the door. That in itself wasn't strange. Parents came at all hours during the night to drop off their children into her care. Normally she hopped up quickly and opened the door, already familiar with the knock.
But this knock was new. If she'd stopped to think about it, really stopped and not just slowed down, she would have called out instead of opening the door. Not that her door was much protection from anyone who really wanted in. Still, it was better than nothing.
So when she opened the door, she was unprepared for the face peering back at her with his keen eyes. It was a boy who was probably a year or two older than her. Right away he gave her a bad feeling. He clearly had no child to drop off, so he could only be there for some other reason.
"I'm Aaron," he said as he took a step inside making her step back. He shut the door behind himself softly as he added, "You must be Mary."
She stood still in front of him, watching his movements. There was something about him that suggested danger. Perhaps she'd just been hanging out with Jimmy too much under that large tree.
This boy looked normal, and he hadn't made any threatening moves towards her. Still, he knew her name. His name was completely unfamiliar to her. She had learned to listen for names since her first stupid chance taken with Jimmy. No one by the name of Aaron had ever come up.
Mary would give no more ground. Everything was a game to them.
He didn't press forward. He stared straight at her books lined up on top of her dresser. "You do have a lot of books."
She didn't dare turn away from him, not even to look at the nearby books. He spoke as if someone had told him about her, but he hadn't believed it. It wasn't a secret that she loved books. The one who watched over the care center knew. Brandon knew. Jimmy knew.
Mary kept her eyes on Aaron just as he turned back to her leaving little space between them. She could smell him he was so close. It wasn't the same heavy musky scent that hung on Jimmy when he visited on his breaks during training. It was softer, lighter, but still a masculine smell that made her uneasy. "Brandon says you're teaching him how to read."
She had to remind herself that she wouldn't move back. "You know Brandon."
He crossed his arms across his chest. "And Jimmy. They're like my brothers."
That didn't comfort her. He still unnerved her. For once she had an inkling of what it must be like for everyone else around Jimmy.
"What do you want?" Mary's entire body tensed so that she nearly trembled.
"To see what the big deal is." He looked down at her, his face impossible for her to read. It was an unfair advantage when her discomfort written was all over her face. "I don't see it. You're just a human. Brandon, though, he seems to have bonded, and if I didn't know better, I'd think he was screwing with Jimmy's thoughts too."
She held her mouth closed. She wasn't supposed to know about Brandon's power. He had confided it to her because of all the time they spent together. She was even aware of how close Brandon bonded when exposed to someone's thoughts over a long period of time.
But his power had no effect on others. It was only one way. And even if it did affect others, Jimmy was a special case. Brandon couldn't even read his thoughts. These were things she didn't bother to say out loud to Aaron.
"You should go. One of the parents is due to come tonight and drop a child off."
He smiled and took another step closer to her, one hand on the wall. "You're cute when you lie."
She resisted the urge to shove him away from her. There was nowhere to run. He stood in front of the only door and behind her there was only her bed.
Mary allowed herself to take a step back. "What're you going to do to me? Are you going to kill me?" The anger bubbled in her voice making it tremble ever so slightly. If he mistook it for fear, it would piss her off more. "This is a safe place," she added for good measure to let him know she wasn't scared. "You can't do that."
He grinned then. "There are things I could do that wouldn't kill you. They wouldn't even leave a mark where anyone could see. But Brandon would know."
Her safety was in the mind reading ability of a boy barely even a decade old. Mary bit at the inside of her lip until she tasted blood. She didn't even feel the wound.
He opened the door and stood to the side. "Let's go outside."
She didn't really have a choice.
"You like him, don't you?"
They sat on the grass by the playground. The air was warm and the ground was still dry. It was late, but not that late yet. Mary found herself distracted by the star filled sky overhead.
"Don't most girls?" She replied tensely.
"Most think he's cute. There's a difference."
Mary fidgeted, poking at the grass at her feet. She hadn't bothered to think about it and she was sure that Jimmy hadn't either. It was best that way. Maybe she was only a pest to him, but he was the one who kept coming around. There was nowhere else she could go. He had no real excuse.
The shuffling sound of soft grass under heavy feet made her look up to see two young tribals walking towards them. Most likely they'd been on their way to the abandoned lot next door where the fire pits sat and most their age gathered.
Mary froze again. She was supposed to be safe on the grounds. But it was the middle of the night and the only one outside with her was no friend of hers even if he was supposedly a friend of Brandon and Jimmy. It had been his suggestion to come outside. Perhaps he'd planned it so that when she disappeared at the hands of the two assholes before them, he could feign complete ignorance. If Jimmy cared enough to do something about it, he'd have his targets and probably would never suspect the hand his friend had in it.
Mary glared at Aaron, but he kept his eyes on the others with a sharp smile.
"Hey, it's that girl." The larger one in front smiled down at her. "Wanna go to the fire pit with us? It's just right there." He nodded towards the abandoned lot. "We'll bring you back."
He gave her the creeps as much as Aaron. She knew if she stepped off the grounds they had her. They might even drag her off to have their fun. How could she really stop them when they outnumbered her?
Aaron's hand brushed against the small of her back. "We're busy."
The others didn't take it as
a cue to leave. They clearly had no idea who Aaron was either. She glanced at him, her eyes opening wide enough to sting. He didn't take his eyes off of the boys in front of them.
Aaron stood up to face them and that broke the ice around her muscles. Mary hopped up and took a step behind Aaron, then let out a gasp. In the moonlight she could see the dark tattoo on his back peeking out from his tank top. Full rank, when Aaron couldn't have been older than eighteen or nineteen. It was a bad sign, and it made it worse that the young tribals before them didn't recognize him. A young man of his rank should have been revered and feared by the others close to his age the way Jimmy was.
The boys across from him had no idea and he didn't seem intent on showing them. Mary spoke quickly. "He has the full tattoo."
That made the other two stop. They had been ready to crouch into their sloppy fighting forms. Aaron was already waiting to spring forward, steady and well-practiced. It was the one in the lead who ended things quietly.
"Next time," he said with a nod at Mary before they continued on their way.
Aaron turned to Mary and her stomach burbled. She faced him with her hands balled into tight fists. "You're a Ghost."
The moonlight cast a shadow from a nearby tree across Aaron's face, covering him in patches of darkness and light. He didn't grin at her. There was no expression. His eyes were exactly what she expected cold eyes to look like. "You know about that?"
The damp, chilly air crept from Mary's exposed neck down to her spine. This man standing before her would extend no mercy. There was no way she could be clever enough or pitiful enough to escape him.
"People talk," she said with a shrug. "They forget I'm there.
Ghosts were a myth whispered about among the tribe members. A rank outside of the normal tribe structure, they were said to be the best or the worst. It was all in his eyes. Though he was young, he had lived more than the others his age.
His eyes narrowed. "We trained together you know. Jimmy's not much different from me."
Mary swallowed. Was he warning her? Was Jimmy a Ghost too? "There's a difference between you and him." Aaron's eyes were bright even in the moonlight, yet they lacked something. "I think you like hurting people."
"Do you think Jimmy doesn't?"
She couldn't say anything to that. They only spent an hour at a time together hanging out under the tree every few days. What did she really know?
Aaron gave a small chuckle. "Fucking humans." He gave a shove to her shoulder that turned her around, and then another shove to start her stepping forward towards her bunker. "When you remember this tomorrow, remember how I didn't touch you. Brandon's already going to be mad enough, I don't need Jimmy pissed too."
Intermission Four
There was a soft knock at her bedroom door late in the evening. It had been months since that Ghost had visited her in the middle of the night, and his knock had sounded nothing like this one. Still she was cautious.
The knock was almost polite. As if the person on the other side of the door hadn't wanted to disturb her. Still, she picked up the stick she'd sharpened with one of the kitchen knives and stepped over to the door. A knock so soft couldn't have come from any parent. They were always in a rush to drop off their children and get onto whatever duties they were assigned.
Mary stood in front of the door. Someone was still outside. His boots scraped at the stone floor as he turned.
She opened the door with the stick in her right hand held behind her leg. He was nothing more than a shadow in her doorway. The candle at her back cast no light past her body unless she opened the door further. When he turned, some small amount of light lit his face and she gasped when she recognized him.
Jimmy glanced down at her right hand though the stick was still hidden behind her back. “What're you going to do with that?”
She opened the door and dropped the stick in the corner of the small room with the sharpened side down. “Nothing. You're here for Brandon.” She felt foolish immediately. Of course, he was here for Brandon. In her fright, she'd forgotten that Brandon was only the next room over.
“Yeah. Is he asleep? I don't want to wake him.” Jimmy ran a hand through his hair. The large dark circles under his eyes contrasted sharply with his pale skin.
Mary gave a small nod. She'd feel bad if he came all this way for no reason, but she'd hate to wake Brandon up in the middle of the night to walk through the cold back to their apartment. “You look tired. You should rest.”
Jimmy gave her a halfhearted smile. “Your couch does look good.”
He turned his head to look into the darkness towards the old couches and she caught her breath. Each time she saw him, he seemed older and more grown up. It wasn't just growing taller. His shoulders were broadening, arms thickening. His short sleeve T-shirts exposed thin muscles pressed against skin covered with golden brown hairs.
Jimmy turned back to her with his gray eyes catching the light, his lips closed and the corners half turned up. When he smiled, any smile at all, she could feel her heart pulling towards him, tugging her along with it.
He gave some small affirmative as he turned to head for her couch. She reached out and grabbed his arm. Both of them stood still as if waiting to see what would happen next.
Mary gave his arm a tug and pulled him into her room, her heart beating hard in her chest as she gave ground to let him in. As he stepped into the room, he shut the door softly. It put him in the center of her small room, at the foot of her bed.
He didn't have to be here. Others his age were out enjoying themselves at this very moment. Jimmy could have left Brandon with her through the night. He could have done anything he wanted with anyone he wanted.
Mary looked up at Jimmy, and she just knew that he wouldn't stop her. She lifted her lips to his and just as she had thought, he didn't. Her eyes didn't close. Not all the way. Not until he brought his hand up to her face and placed his thumb gently against her cheek. Against his hand, she felt steady though her entire body trembled.
When he pulled away, the distance between them reappeared. He had always been so good at keeping his distance from her. She was the one who kept reaching across the gap and grabbing hold of him so that he had to pull her along or let her fall. But when faced with her directly, she knew he had no choice.
In the light of the candle, his eyes looked warm. A fire inside her gut spurred her on. She pulled him close by wrapping her arms over his shoulders as his hands slid around her waist. He pushed her towards the bed, and she pulled him after her, the edge of the mattress pressing at the back of her leg. She was tired of her half lived life.
Mary sat on the bed, pushing herself back to allow him to follow. He hesitated a moment before he removed his shoes and climbed onto the bed after her. She knew he had experience. There was the little girl with the soft, brown hair that looked as if it had been plucked right off Jimmy's head. Her mother had brought her to the care center a few times before she noticed Jimmy and Mary standing under neither their tree together. She'd scowled at them and never come back. Jimmy hadn't said a word about it. Not to explain or apologize. He owed Mary nothing. She didn't ask for it either.
His jeans pressed roughly against the thin, worn fabric of her old shorts. Her hand slipped between them to unbutton his jeans, but she fumbled with it and he had to place his hand over hers, his fingers working their way between hers to get to the buttons and the zipper. With one hand, he slid her shorts down to her knees so she could kick them off, leaving them crumpled at the bottom of the bed as she rolled over and spread her legs to allow him between.
There was no thought involved. She trusted him. He didn't even have to ask. She offered herself, pulling him close, gasping when she felt him pressing against her with more than just his weight. He was pulling her towards him, holding her steady with his hands as he did it. She gave a small cry at the sharp pain from him forcing himself in and he stopped.
“No, don't stop.” Her voice was low, carried on a breath through the pain
.
Jimmy kissed her again and continued, pressing into her again. The pain traveled up her abdomen. She stayed still, not even able to kiss him back, her eyes shut tightly. The muscles in her thigh shook slightly as she clamped down to keep them open. She dug her toes into the mattress as she fought to not cry. Mary wanted to be someone else. Anyone else other than the person she was. She'd go with Jimmy if he asked her. She'd give up the illusion of freedom from being completely unclaimed.
Jimmy's kisses softly touched her cheeks and the sides of her mouth. It took her a moment before she realized the pain that was left was only the remnants from earlier. Jimmy had stopped. He lay over her now kissing her even as she still ached.
“Did it-- did you--”
He shook his head and lay down next to her. “No.” Just as she was ready to ask, he wrapped his arms around her. “I didn't realize that it'd hurt you so much.”
Silence. He brought a blanket up to cover her as she stared at him. When he caught her eyes she almost burst out laughing. She had to cover her mouth and still a surprised chuckle found its way around her fingers.
“What?” He looked almost hurt.
“You go to training all day every day.” She glanced at his hands, rough and calloused; they were often bruised and cut. “You fight all the time.”
His face softened and he looked towards the ceiling before turning back to her with the full charm of the self-assured boy she'd thought would have bedded countless virgins and be used to causing them a little pain to get what he wanted.
“That's different.” He brushed strands of her hair from her face and her eyes welled up. No one did that in real life. Just in books and fairy tales.
She pressed herself into his arms, her face against his chest as she closed her eyes again. No one had been so tender with her. Not in so long. People hardly even looked at her any more.
“I lost my parents.” It was stupid to say. Of course she had lost her parents. He probably had too. She blinked back the tears. “I mean, we were kidnapped. Taken from one of the villages by a group of experiments when we were out in the fields. And my parents, well my mom mostly, she distracted them so that I could get away. My father told me to go. He pushed me away and I ran off and left them there.”
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