Page 129 of A Foster Fling
“You fell in love with it!”
The tectonic absurdity sends my body reeling back into the headboard.
“Caerus isn’t evil, how could you even say that?”
“You still don’t see it.” He shakes his head in disgust. “Not him,her.”
No. Impossible. He couldn’t know anything about it, he couldn’t know anything about her. We were so careful.
Careful. But still…
Tilda’s dead now.
——
“I wish there were more I could do for you. A place I could take you where you would be happy.” Tilda’s sweet words meant nothing in that dark place.
They just festered as a painful reminder of the life I’d never have.
“Why don’t you just take me from here? You keep saying you’re helping me but nothing has changed just because we fuck now. This place is still hell and we’re all still being tortured.” I hated the anger I was giving her. I didn’t believe she deserved it.
“Don’t be so vulgar.” She snapped, out of character. “We don’t…fuck. We share something special that we don’t even fully understand. The people here never will because they don’t know anything about something so pure.” Her cheeks flushed with her irritation.
“You, maybe. I’m nothing if the sort.” I scoffed.
“No one makes me feel the way you do Sayler. I’ll never find this connection anywhere else. Don’t you feel the same way? I-I understand if you don’t.” She looked down at her hands. “Wouldn’t be the first time someone’s disgusted by me. I know I’m not much to look at and I’m not very interesting but, I’m a good person. Aren’t I?” She looked at me in a pathetic way that actually irritated me.
“Tilda, don’t.” I held my hands up to stop her pity party.
“Okay, I’ll be quiet. I know you don’t want to hear from me right now.” More self-pity.
“Jesus, Tild. Just stop. Can this just not be about you right now?” The only person who actually cares about me is about to leave and Satan will make sure we never see each other again.” I stood to pace.
“You say that like you’ll be all alone. I haven’t abandoned you. Even Jaxsin have left you.”
“We’renottalking about him and Cae isn’t abandoning me. He’s being sent away to punish me! Why are you insistent on making him the bad guy? Why are you protecting that sick fuck? Why do you even still work here? I don’t understand how you canbe apart of any of this. How is that okay?” Once I allowed myself to think about her working with the devil, I couldn’t stop.
“I stay here for you.” She snapped with anger I’d never seen her display. “Do you think I enjoy it here anymore than you do? I suffer my own punishments here, Sayler, and I do it to be with you. Why can’t any of you be thankful!?” I didn’t see her move; I only felt the shift in the room after she hit me.
Heat bloomed across my cheek and rage clawed its way up my spine. No more words were exchanged. No apologies were made. She didn’t reach out with regret for slapping me, she didn’t even look like she had any.
She stared at my reddening cheek with glassy eyed fascination. It was like she got off on bruising my skin. It became excruciatingly clear; she was just another monster within those walls. In that moment,shewas the devil.
Emotion drained from me, greying like the concrete we stood on. My hands screamed the words my mouth couldn’t muster and I felt her collar bone snap beneath my hands with the force I used to shove her backwards. Her head cracked like thunder against the bedpost behind her. And then she was still.
Deathly so.
“Tilda? Get up we can’t stay down here.” I shifted on my feet again trying to convince myself the situation was something different.
Her only answer was to bleed a river trying to reach my toes. I felt my own skin going cold with hers. I felt my life end.
“What happened?” I spun around at Waif’s soft voice.
“She fell.” He didn’t believe me; I could see it.
Ididn’t blamehim. I didn’t even believe myself. Her pants were still open, along with her eyes, her pussy was still on my breath and I swear I felt my arms still outstretched as they were when I had pushed her.
“We need to move her. Adam and the doctor are looking for you.”