I'm a constant growing burden on myself

    I sat in the sofa chair, next to the fireplace watching Tori pace back and forth with her fingers on her forehead. The living room was quiet, only the sound of the crackling fire and the ticking clock on the wall filling the room with song. My knees were hugged closer to my chest, I felt like I was going to lose my lunch as well. Anxiety gripping at my heart as I just watched the deity pace back and forth searching for the right words to say to me. Of course my sudden appearance had caused her to faint - but soon after reaching my mansion everyone had scattered with Tori waking up.

    “Four years.” She breathed as she stopped in front of me. I felt like a child who had snuck out for a party coming back for my parents to scold me. Her hand left her face, “I would ask you to explain yourself but there’s really no point. Shoe what the hell were you thinking - Hamilton was only a young kid when you left! He spent an entire year looking for you when everyone else just acted like it was normal. Karrina was forced to take up your kingdom and we had to help raise Hamilton together. Where were you - off with some sort off…. F**k buddy?” Tori hissed as I simply stared on. Would she even begin to understand what had happened - what I went through but how much I didn’t care and only was happy to be seeing her face again.

    “F**k Buddy is an understatement.” I suddenly muttered - remembering the stinging pain in my heart. Her name had been erased from my memory no thanks to those experiments. Yet I still remembered her lips - and up until the moment she died the bond that I had shared with that succubus. Tori glared at me, but then that expression that I saw turned to more concern.

    “What… happened to you Shoe. You look thin - you look tired. What were you doing why didn’t you just give us a call a letter. We were scared shitless with all this killing going around and wondering where you were. Quelt’s mother even went off to look for you.” Tori crossed her arms as I felt Sonnie appear next to me. He was standing on the arm of the chair - although far too big for it. He still pressed his head against the underside of my cheek. I drank in his scent and felt disassociated for a moment. Perhaps making me go through this emotional stress was a little too much. I felt like my insides were being ripped apart. As I stopped hugging my knees and rubbed my eyes.

    “Well…. I’m currently under the care of someone by the name of Kurt Slew. Quelt placed me into her custody after my soul had been brutally smashed to pieces and now I’m ordered under strict rest and supervision. I got permission… to come here. Because I wanted to see everyone.” I looked up, Tori’s eyes looked rather flabbergasted. As if a ghost was sitting right in front of her. The moment I looked up she approached me and pulled a hand to my forehead.

    “You seem to be burning up…. You should lay down. I’ll fix you some tea with herbs and a small meal.” She made me stand and move over to the bigger couch so I could lie down. I bit into my lip and pressed my arm against my forehead. Sonnie like a ghost wisping over to me, before vanishing into smoke.

    “I’m not even mad that you’re mad at me. Quite frankly I expected a more negative response entirely. Rejection even. At the moment I’m not even sure if I care because it hurts too much.” I said watching as Tori vanished to the small kitchen - though it was one of many among the house.

    “You can explain to me later what actually happened to you… I think reason enough is enough to quell fire. I’m sorry I got angry, but I was worried about you. A little angry too watching everyone hurting. It wasn’t the first time you’d run off just because you felt unappreciated - I thought it was the same.” Tori’s voice was easy enough to hear through her working. I stared at the ceiling.

    “At first. It was because I ran away, I guess. I mean I woke up in a forest not knowing where I was and Sonnie…. Was by my side not like he is now I mean physically. Everyone could see and hear and touch him. He was another being completely…. Someone messed with us. Then did it again later on.” I looked at my hand - shaking as I listened to Tori boil water.

    “I hate to admit that we’re all glad, more than glad that you’re back. But I can’t say you’ll have a better or worse reaction from Karrina or Hamilton. You can talk to them in the morning.” Tori said as I closed my eyes. Taking a deep breath and feeling myself just drift in the darkness.

Author's Note

Starting to write Shoe a lot more often now.

I'm gonna write a poetry book for my first published book - so these stories are just for my own pleasure.

Reviews

[barleygirl]

The best part about this little snippet of a story is the way you create tension thru dialogue. The conversations sound realistic & convey an ever-shifting array of emotional responses to each other. Also, I like the way you convey an emotional discourse thru dialogue without overdoing it & having it sound like a long diatribe. The conversation is perfectly balanced.

[Centipedle]

Thank you! I think the one thing creative writing class taught me was the balance between dialogue and story telling. As we did exercises once with stories nothing but dialogue and nothing but text with no dialogue. Then you just gotta balance inbetween.

Also thank you for the support - it's people like you that really give me the motivation to keep going.

[T.S. Sky]

This is coming along nicely. I like the story. I love fantasy.