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“She’s fucking lying!” he spat, his eyes now on her.
I knew a liar when I saw one, and she wasn’t it. I walked over to the girl with the soft brown hair, noticing the way she stiffened as I approached.
“How old are you?” I asked quietly, too hushed for the others to hear, while my eyes fell upon hers.
God, they were so green and vivid, and my soul jerked restlessly, as if trying to rid itself of the confines of this body in this fucked up life. Desperate for something better. Something more vibrant and alive, like the emerald sparks glittering in this girl’s eyes.
“F-fifteen,” she answered in a small voice, yanking her gaze from mine to study her hands, clinging to her skirt.
“Fifteen,” I repeated slowly, allowing the word to sour against my tongue before I looked over my shoulder at Seth, still being held by the guy I didn’t know, who apparently knew me. “She’s a fuckingkid, you asshole.”
Then, I took her carefully by the wrist and instructed her to come with me. She trembled under my touch, and goose bumps broke out along her skin, but she didn’t protest or pull away. She did as I’d asked, and it irked me to the bone that she did it all so easily.
***
“W-what are you going to do to me?” was the first question she asked after I had her in my car.
It was a ten-year-old piece of junk, held together by rust molecules holding hands. But it was mine, and it always took me where I needed to go.
I didn’t immediately answer. Instead, I asked a question of my own. “What is your name?”
“Rain,” she replied without hesitation.
I looked across the car at her, dubious, while holding a handful of blood-soaked napkins to my face. “Rain? Your name isRain?”
“Yes.”
I snorted, turning my eyes back on the road. “Wow. Okay. What, are yourparentshippies or something?”
“Uh, I don’t think you should be the one making fun ofmyname,” she fired back with more confidence than before. “Like, hello? Your parents named you Soldier.”
One side of my mouth quirked into a smile. I saw no reason to tell her I only had one parent, and I winced at the pain in my cheek. “Touché.”
“I mean, is thatreallyyour name?”
“Yep.” I glanced at her again, noticing her reluctant smile, and I was glad to see her relax in my presence.
She was pretty. Maybe the prettiest girl I had ever seen.
“And by the way,I’mnot doinganythingwith you. I’m just taking you home. So, where do you live?”
“Really?”
She sat up straighter, and I darted my eyes toward hers, startled to find a heartbreaking amount of hope glimmering within those mosaic shards of green.
I didn’t know her. She meant nothing to me, yet the thought that she could lump me in with those other guys in The Pit crushed my spirit. But what hurt even more was knowing I couldn’t blame her.
“Yes,” I replied firmly, looking back to the road before flicking my gaze back to hers for a split second to add, “Really.”
So, she gave me the address and told me how to get there from where we were, and I steered the car in that direction.
The ride was spent mostly in complete silence with my eyes on the road and hers on her hands, nestled over the black fabric of her skirt covering her lap. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking; I didn’t even know if she was truly okay. All I knew was, I felt better, knowing she wasn’t in The Pit anymore. It was no place for a kid her age, and it wasn’t lost on me that I’d started going when I was even younger.
“You shouldn’t go back there,” I finally said as we neared her street. “Those guys want to hurt you. Stay the hell away from them.”
“Doyouwant to hurt me?”
Shocked, I looked at her. “I don’t want to hurt anyone,” I replied honestly.
