Wooden talons lashed out at the girl’s exposed flesh, clawing her face and arms. Her curled fingers swatting back at the unforgiving pines and oaks and maples. Crisp snapping of twigs sounded from under her worn leather boots. She forced her way through the dying foliage.

The fading light cast long shadows on the floor of the wooded ocean. Red eyes stared at the teen from every patch of darkness. The animal’s chittering and tweeting stopped. The silence created a deathly ringing to those who endure it for too long. The swirling fog that lingered from the morning covered the stray strands of light in a smoky hue. The harsh, cold breeze swayed the decaying leaves from their branches.

Paisley’s harsh steps stomped across the narrow openings between plants. Her eyes trained on the sliver of light poking through the mist. Her minded flashed through the day’s events a million times over. With eyebrows scrunching closer and closer with every passing moment. She needed to escape. She had to, lest her emotions explode onto the surrounding area. She knew when to control herself, and the best way to do that was to reach the light before her.

“Wait, Paisley, please!” A faint voice called out to her over and over, but her resolve would not break. She had to get to her secret garden. “Slow down at least!”

Her trained eyes did not waver from her target. The soft, but loud, voice called closer and closer. She knew that voice. Her feet slowed from a student five minutes late to class, to a mildly anxious pedestrian. The tightness in her muscles flickered at the comfort the voice carried with it. She could hear the squirrels in the trees begin their conversations as they continued hunting nuts for the approaching winter. Her eyes narrowed as specks of sun stabbed through the vegetation.

She quickly pushed aside a certain branch that hung dangerously from a great oak. Gnarls of wood and splinters keep the heavy limb from collapsing, though it would appear too fragile to touch to anyone else. The view beyond the green veil would normally make Paisley’s scowl fade into dust, leaving behind a gentle curl of her lips. However, her nerves were anything but relieved. Her shoulders still hunched. Her brows still scrunched. Her skin still trembled.

“Paisley?” The quiet little voice broke the unusual silence. She did not respond. She knew that voice, and she was not going to scare it away. Not this time.

Paisley dragged her feet over a small grassy hill and sat a yard from a ovular pond. A twisted willow bent over the long pond, acting as a natural bridge; it’s vines ghosting over the crystalline pool. The pale sand edged up the side, mixing with the dirt and grass and reeds. Green padded the surface, donned with white water lilies. The sweet breeze kissed the water, creating gentle ripples for the insects to dance over. The small waves lifted the airy scent to her nose. The mild lilies and natural water danced a patient waltz for only the secret garden to enjoy.

A rocky cliff, a building high, pushed into a corner. The tower protected the grove from the outside winds, like a mother embracing her child in her arms away from the cruel world. There was a steep hill leading to the peak of the pale stones, dented from age. A soft waterfall glided into the wide pond. The stable brown rocks, glistening in the afternoon light, gently guided the water. A blanket of thick green moss creeped over the surface of the boulders, connecting the rocky mound and the earth.

Streams of puffy white clouds rolled through the air, the spots of blue beginning to grey. A group of small black birds swarmed the surrounding trees, searching for berries or grub. The subtle wings of a hawk soared over the secret garden, not stopping its hunt for the two humans beneath his mighty brown feathers. Slivers of sun dotted the crystal water and the thick, mildly-hilled floor. The secluded arena radiated like a bubble under deep waters.

Paisley ran her shaking fingers through the earth’s blanket, flecks of dirt getting caught beneath her sharpened nails. Her knees wobbled as she lowered herself onto them. She gulped down the sweet air the day stole from her. With her eyes closed she listened to the dribbling water and scampering critters. She could hear the timid steps of the other person behind her. They stopped just beyond the small grassy hill, hesitate to get any closer. Paisley ignored the presence of her one friend and allowed her trembling to calm before peering over her shoulder to the fidgeting girl.

“Why did you follow me?” Her narrowed eyes pierced the small girl she called her friend. “I didn’t ask you to come after me!” A knot formed itself in her throat.

“I-”

“I don’t need someone to babysit me.” Her fingers clenched into the earth.  “Aimi.. Just- go away.” She turned her eyes away from her friend, unable to maintain her usual stone exterior.

“N-No,” Aimi whispered. Paisley could hear the internal war her friend fought. Aimi had always been exceedingly reluctant.

“Now isn’t the time for you to be playing hero, kid.” Aimi’s tense face melted, her eyes widening as though she was thrown into an ice bath. Paisley never held this kind of hostility towards her before.

“I-I’m not, I just wa-” she managed to croak out.

“Well, you sure make it seem like you’re this perfect little angel, don’t you?” Stop it! You know she doesn’t do that. Why do you keep talking? Shut up, mouth! Her words were possessed by the anger and sadness she felt.

Aimi, faced the rocky tower, “I’m not perfect.”

Paisley wished Aimi would leave so she could up into a ball and let out all her frustrations in the secret garden, but pride was her deadliest sin. I know that.

“Just go back, Aimi. I want to be alone.” Her eyes reflected no light, her voice held no emotion.

Aimi saw her friend--her only friend--begin to cave in on herself. All of Paisley’s well-constructed walls began to crack under whatever weight she was carrying. The Paisley she knew would never avoid the thousand eyes that were always watching. If anything, she would stare back until the eyes began to sweat. Paisley never backed away from conflict, never turned her back away from someone in need. Despite her jagged skin, she cared way too deeply for the wounded.

Aimi’s legs refused to listen to her as she begged for them to edge closer to the one stranger she could possibly trust. Her muscles constricted like a straight jacket. The shaking in her tendons hardly kept her standing. A tornado of wasps buzzed against the walls of her stomach, swirling up into her throat. Their stingers poisoned her voice. Thick saliva filled her mouth. A dark haze seeped into her brain. Static filled her ears. Inky black crept around the edges of her vision. Her lungs screamed for the missing oxygen. Her veins ached. And then, everything stopped.

No.

She ground her teeth together, “you’re lying!” Paisley’s bones shook, her eyes bulged as she gawked at the girl.

“Wha-”

“I know you don’t want to be alone! I know that, more than anything, you want someone to be there for you.” She took a sure step forward, “what do you think I’ve been doing this whole time? I’ve been watching you! I know you!”

“You think you know everything?! What the hell do you know about me?” Paisley’s upper body lurched towards Aimi, her fist clenched and ready. The red under her skin burned.

“I know you really want people to accept you! You really don’t like adults for some reason. You’re brash and aggressive and loud! But you’re also strong and confident and beautiful. You own yourself.” Aimi’s right fist closed over her chest, her legs pushing closer to the seething 17 year old.

“That’s no-”

“You care about people who are weak! You helped me and no one asked you to. I never spoke to you before, you didn’t know me. You punched that jerk so hard her flew into a locker. I had never seen anything so violent up close, and you did it like it was nothing! Like there was no doubt in your mind that you had to make him stop.”

Paisley’s eyes dropped to the green floor. The heat of Aimi’s gaze scorched Paisley’s face. There was a moment of quiet, only filled with Aimi’s heavy breathing.“I-”

“And! No matter what happens to you, to us, you never, ever, look away! You face the world head on, you never turn your back because you never know what’s going to attack you from behind. Life taught you that too young..” Her resolve faltered for a second, eyes swirling with mist.

“I don-” Paisley’s shoulders fell.

“You.. You are everything that I’m not. You know yourself. I could never stick up for myself. I never looked my monsters in the eyes. Then you showed up, and I couldn’t take my eyes off you. You were like a ball of light in my cloud of darkness.” Paisley snickered slightly.

“That’s so cheesy.”

“I like cheesy, so what?” A small smile cracked across her lips.

“You sap.”

“My point is: I have you to look after me. I know you wouldn’t turn your back on me. And you have me to lean on. If I’ve learned anything from watching you, it’s that it’s okay to be there for someone, and to lean on them a little.” Aimi kneeled in front of her, and placed a delicate hand on Paisley’s quivering shoulders.

“Why do you trust me? You said it yourself.. I’m brash and aggressive. That’s not exactly best friend material, is it?” Paisley scoffed at herself, eyebrows strunching closer together. Aimi lightly pushed Paisley’s shoulders until their eyes met.

“Because I do. I know you’re not the bad guy.” Pale red dusted her face.

Paisley knew it now. Aimi was an angel abandoned on earth. Paisley found her and her hidden heart knew she should allow this girl in. I can’t.

“You don’t know that,” Paisley whispered. Her eyes focused on the ground again.

“I do know th-”

“No you don’t Aimi!” A tingle ran up her spine as the cold twirled around her face and shoulders, grabbing at her hair. The faint yellow streaks faded in the trees’ shadows. The eyes beyond the circle stabbed at Paisley’s hardened skin. Aimi’s startled gaze pierced the armor and embedded itself in the pink and red muscular organ beating in Paisley’s chest.

“Then tell me, Paisley.” A ragged puff of white escaped Paisley’s lips. The ocean of words pushed against the cracking seams of the dam she built by hand. Years of frustration and anger and anxiety piling against the broken concrete until the aged rock burst.

“Everything is so messed up. The world. The school. My family. Me.” Paisley’s knees met her chest as her arms hugged them closer.

“I have piles of disorders and cups of pills. It’s like I’m in some damn crazy house, but it’s my own home. My mother is afraid of me. My own mother!” Her nails stabbed through her jeans. Her jaw tensed at the flooding images. “Not that I really blame her. I’m the one that messed up our lives.” She scoffed.

“What do you mean? It’s not your fault life screws over good people,” Aimi stated.

“No, it’s my fault. I’m the one that did it.” All warmth fled from her face, leaving only cold stone. Paisley refused to look at Aimi as her reinforced her barriers. “I killed him.” The oxygen was punched out of Aimi’s lungs.

“K-.. Killed?” she managed a small ghost of a whisper. Paisley did not move. The wind and water did not move. The leaves and trees did not move. The animals did not move.

“Yeah. My dad.” She hardly flinched at the chill in her own voice, but Aimi could not compose herself as well as her friend.

“Y-You must have had someone reason.. Right?”

“The reason aside, it doesn’t change the fact that I killed someone. He was my father, I suppose you could say.”

“What’s the reason. You wouldn’t hurt someone without a reason..” Even Aimi was unsure if her words held any truth anymore.

“He was a monster. He hurt us. He hurt my mom. You’ve met my mom. She’s the sweetest lady you’ll ever meet. She’d never hurt a fly. She’d never hurt a fly. She cared a lot about other people, strangers. But dad. He didn’t like that. I wish I knew how they met. How they even got together. I’d rather them have not met than for her to suffer like she did.” Paisley had never been so sure about her words before.

“But if they hadn’t met.. You wouldn’t be here. You wouldn’t alive.” Small pins pricked at Aimi’s eyes.

“That’s but a small price to pay for her happiness. Did you know she didn’t even want kids? My dad wanted a boy. So he made sure they had a kid.”

“Wait.. So he-?” Aimi’s throat could rival the Sahara Desert

“Yeah. And he wasn’t happy she had a girl. I think that’s when he starting getting angry. He would drink and hurt her every chance he got.” A flicker of agony passed through Paisley’s eyes.

“I’ve seen pictures of my mom when she was young. She was so beautiful. She was always smiling and she had virtually poreless skin. I have never seen her smile like that. She would always try to smile for me whenever I cried for her.” Silent streams flowed over Paisley’s chin, her voice wavering slightly.

“Paisley, I-”

“You know the most twisted part?!” Paisley’s sharp eyes suddenly stabbed into Aimi’s. “He was a cop! He was supposed to protect the people; to care for them! And he would come home just to beat his wife and kid!” A deafening silence passed for what felt like a lifetime. Tension built in the girls’ muscles.

“He-,” Paisley had to pause. “He hurt her.” Aimi’s hand inched closer to the other girl.

“He wasn’t a good person. I’m glad you’re out of the situation.”

“I’m ‘out’ of the situation because one day he got in trouble at work, so of course, he took it out on mom. He cut her then panicked and shoved her down the old basement stairs. I just stood there. I used that same knife to end his life. I didn’t even feel anything. I didn’t feel guilty.” Aimi flinched at all the possible ways Paisley could have used that knife on human flesh.

“I-It’s not y-you’re fault, Paisley..” Wet eyes poured into Aimi’s.

“You can’t even say that without your voice quivering. Are you scared of me now too, Aimi?”

Ice ran through Aimi’s veins. Was she afraid? Paisley just revealed her monsters to her and she was not entirely sure how she should relax. Part of her felt like running away. But another part of her yearned to embrace Paisley for every flaw and wound and protect her from every bad thing the world throws their way.

“No.” Paisley scoffed.

“The hell do you mean ‘no’?! I killed someone!”

“You were protecting your mother.”

“That doesn’t justify what I did!”

“I know you wouldn’t have done it for a dumb reason. Protecting your mother is not a crime.”

“Murder is.” Paisley rolled her eyes.

“Paisley. You’re a good person. You’ve been carrying all this guilt and remorse with you, all this time” Her eyes bore into Paisley’s. “You protected me from all the bad things that were happening to me. Now, it’s my turn to protect you.” Aimi latched onto Paisley’s icy fingers.

“I’m not going to leave you alone. Not now. Not ever.” Aimi smiled and Paisley’s lips twitched slightly.