Page 42 of Can you take it?

“It’s kind of hard to kiss when you’re tied up,” Walter said.

“I’m not kissing him anyway,” Eletha replied, and the two began another spiral of bickering.

This time, Bexley snapped. “Enough!” he boomed, and his wings burst into flames, spreading wide behind his back. Flames licked up his legs.

All four of us stopped and stared at the sight.

“Holy shit,” said Anna under her breath. “Okay, we might have reached a new level of bad.”

“Okay, Bexley, everything’s fine,” Eletha said, obviously realizing too late how bad things were.

“It’s not fine!” Bexley said. “All you two do is fight. Stop fighting, stop fighting.” He continued his pacing, now on fire.

Eletha’s eyes shot to us, connecting with Anna’s. For the first time, Anna looked nervous.

“It’s okay, Bexley. Sometimes people fight. That doesn’t mean they don’t love each other,” Walter said.

“It does in this case!” Eletha snapped.

“Enough!” This time, it was Walter’s turn to bellow. “Eletha, when we get out of these chains, I’m going to remind you why it is you don’t want to be with anybody else but me. I’m going to remind you why you and I are destined to be together, and I’m going to remind you that you will not be with anyone else but me. I’m tired of this. I’m as tired as Bexley. If you want to fight and dance around, hell, if you want to battle me, I don’t care. I’m up for it. I love it. But I’m not going to stand by while you pretend that you’re not in love with me every bit as much as I am with you. Stop lying to yourself and everyone else.”

The flames died away from Bexley’s wings and legs, leaving little wisps of smoke. For a moment, Eletha was silent. And then I saw something I never thought I’d see.

Eletha didn’t fight back, and instead relaxed and reached back to grab Walter’s hand.

“You’re right,” she said. “I just don’t want to be hurt again. I can’t take it, Walter. I can’t take it if you hurt me again like that. I won’t make it.”

“I know,” he said. “I never want to hurt you again. You have to know that I never ever wanted to hurt you.”

“I know that,” she said.

Walter continued, “You have to know that none of that was my choosing. There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t think about you.”

“I know,” she said. “I thought about you too.” “Then let me in,” he said.

I noticed their hands connected under the chain and squeezed. Meanwhile, Bexley seemed to have not noticed that his hostages had stopped fighting, as his rambles continued.

“I can’t take it. Everybody’s upset. No one needs to be upset. Why, why, why, why, why must they fight? Why must everyone fight? Why can’t we just get along?” He sang as weapons started leaving his hands and flying off into the air.

“Oh shit,” Anna said. “We can’t just stay here. I’m going to do something.”

“No, you stay here.” I didn’t want Anna to hurt Bexley—or the other way around for that matter.

“I can handle it,” she insisted.

“Stay put. I can take care of this,” I said. “Bexley!” I shouted as I approached.

The man turned around with an ax in his hand. I saw the look in his eyes and immediately regretted my decision. The next thing I knew, I was tied up next to Eletha and Walter.

“Bexley, this is stupid. Stop!” I shouted. Bexley began to pace back and forth.

“You’re not helping,” Walter whispered to me.

I let out a huff. “Well, I’m glad to see you two getting along. Is this going to last? Does this mean you two are giving it another shot?”

“Yes,” they replied. Eletha reached out and squeezed my hand gently.

“Thank you,” I replied, squeezing her hand back. She swatted at me as much as she could and shuffled until she found Walter’s hand again. “So what are we going to do now? He is so strong,” I said half from surprise and half admiration.