Redhawk Caldera Forever pretend in our shelters we don’t fall

A small lump formed in her throat as Elwood discovered her and asked the thing she’d dreaded being asked. If only she’d taken off with the pretense of scouting… if only she’d been able to stomach the idea.

There was simply no hiding in plain sight. She felt his gaze and wanted to make up a lie and throw a bright smile over the distant frown she’d donned, but his candid yellow eyes and the posing of his direct question made her falter. “D’you ever…” she started, but stopped herself and blinked. She looked away before she looked back up to his gentle concern, feeling both ashamed and abashed that she was about to spill her guts in front of him.

“So many things have happened, I just… Well it’s sort of piled up, and I didn’t know it was there all the time, piling on like that.” She scrunched her brow as if the feeling was an unpleasant smell that would pass in a moment’s time, but the moment didn’t end.