Tyrant

(𝟸𝟷) 𝚄𝚗𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚎𝚞𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜

The second I spy Riona, Astrid, and Weylin striding towards me, their flashlights illuminating large smiles upon their gleeful faces, a large pink teddy bear hits me square in the face—sending me down onto cracked concrete.

"Weylin, that was too hard!" Astrid scolds as she rushes to help me up from my spot on the rubble. 

A deep laugh booms into the darkness, Weylin's grin stretching from ear to ear. "Sorry, Phoenix." He grips my right hand, Astrid my left—I force a smile as I'm heaved up onto my feet, dusting off grime and debris from my nightgown. 

"You're fine." I respond coolly, and he throws a mellow arm around my shoulder as Riona calls out, "Darcio, you there?"

The male slowly emerges out of the aisle I had been in, his visage expressionless—yet a small figurine is between his ringed fingers.

"Look what I found. It's Weylin." He holds the figure up—to reveal a fat green plastic frog standing on its hind legs.

Riona chokes on her spit, and Weylin rolls his eyes as he leaves my side and mockingly slaps the frog out of Darcio's hand. "I found an ugly plush pig earlier—it was strangely reminiscent of you."

Darcio proudly takes the insult with an alluring smile, and I snap my head away from the source of that attractiveness without a comment. I pick up the pink bear Weylin had chucked at me and examine it. "This is really cute. Is there like a teddy bear section somewhere?" 

Astrid nods, practically bouncing on her feet. "Hell yes—we passed through a stuffed animal aisle earlier. Come, let me show you."

I grin at her enthusiasm as the entire group follows us, avoiding large blocks of cement and concrete. 

Darcio walks behind me with Riona and Weylin, casually conversing with them as though the intimate touches and breaths between us earlier were nothing, were completely insignificant—as though he hadn't held then released my body like it was deadly, scorching fire the second Riona had called out.

His regretful expression was what had ice creeping into my heart.

Am I just not good enough? Does he not wish to sully himself with a woman like me?

Am I the issue?

I curse the naïve ache in my heart, bitter at how close our lips had been. If only he'd just let me explore the ruined shop alone, this entire mess wouldn't have happened—

"Are you okay, Phoenix?" I blink twice and look to Astrid, whose face holds concern.

"Yeah, I'm good. Why?" My words quick and short, and she eyes me with speckled curiosity. "I just asked you how your exploration with Darcio went."

Exploration. Right.

Exploration of the store, I remind myself with an internal slap.

"It went fine." Is all I say, and I mentally curse myself for not adding more as inquisitive questions rebound on Astrid's face. She glances behind us, to where Darcio walks with Weylin and Riona—not me. Not me, whose side he hadn't left all night, up until now. 

"Good." Astrid says, her eyes holding an emotion I can't place as we walk on through the dark path.

I shouldn't have touched him in the first place. It was a mistake. 

Stupid, reckless danger messed with my mind—it affected me like an immature child being bribed by candy.

We reach the stuffed animal aisle, a thoroughly wrecked section adorned with colorful, innocent toys scattered all over the floor. I pick up a small brown bear buried under a demolished shelf, similar to the teddy I had shoved in Darcio's face earlier.