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I crossed-ain And o OUTSIDE

She cried then, too

A few days later she carocery store with hardly any food but she had a bunch of tools and bars and sheets of metal She toldwe could sell, so she had to go back to work

She was getting a dog to watch overto build a very special cage for it She’d even learned to use a blowtorch and ha!

I kneas going to be a very special big dog because the cage was ginormous I knehy she had to build it inside: it was three times as wide as any of our doors! Shortly before it was done, I played inside the cage, i to have with my new, very best friend With a best friend it would be a lot easier to resist the lure of OUTSIDE

I wasn’t as strong then as I a withto be very, very strong because the bars on the cage were as big around as my mother’s arm and inside she bolted a thick collar and a heavy chain to the floor She said the dog ht have to be restrained soan to think I was the only one excited about the new addition to our fae, I’d drea and try thee and her lips would pull down

I’ve always slept hard

One night ave ames on the rickety kitchen table until I nearly fell asleep on my stool Then she carried me to her bed where I lay my head on her pillowcase--the one with the little ducks--and I put my hands on her face and stared at her with sleepy eyes because I loved watching her while I fell asleep, and she held oodto her in the whole world, and I slipped off to happy drea I woke up with a collar around e

JADA

She stood by the edge of the mattress in the study on the silent, otherwise e down at the body draped in nearly transparent pieces of silvery cloth

Not that Ryodan knew she was frowning or even that she was in the rooony, the rise and fall of his chest was nominal; she’d counted his breaths, twice a one into a deep meditation or so sleep

Unwrapping a protein bar, she knelt by the e of one of the pieces of fabric and inhaled sharply Raw, blistered flesh oozed pinkish liquid She carefully released the edge and lifted another

He’d burned himself to the bone in places, to keep her safe, while she’d tried to rescue someone she’d known full well on some level wasn’t there

"The wound I refused to dress," she whispered, for ato get her to face the atrocities of her life, stare thee and make soh love, the only thing that’d had the slightest chance of penetrating her formidable armor She’d told herself it wasn’t concern but s about the man had always been at odds She’d idolized him Craved his attention and respect Never trusted hihty Ryodan ained fro into the future, faster than the wind, faster than any pain could follow Seeking adventure, sensation, sti new, she didn’t feel anything old Past is past, she’d crowed to anyone who’d listened

She knew Ryodan’s words by heart She knew everything he’d said by heart Few adults had given her useful words Tucked into a Mega brain behind a gaer, they’d always been treasured

The wound you refuse to dress is one that will never heal You gush lifeblood and never even knohy It will

Tonight her unhealed wounds had cost her And hi Soood as new She wasn’t worried that heat him in this conditionthe abbey under attack, the bloodbath of a battle, so , the hellish fire, thefro her and her stuffed anihts of the completed tattoo at the base of her spine, the cellphone in her pocket, and the certainty Ryodan could find her no matter where she went

Of course, now that she had what she’d so desperately wanted, she couldn’t justify pursuing a personal agenda

Forgotten in her hand, the protein bar had ers She devoured it in two bites, barely chewing, licked her hand, and pocketed the wrapper