Sea Lion Shores our iron coffin

i don’t want to be alone, cried the little boy inside merrick. but he was silent now, closing himself to the questioning purple of the shadow’s gaze. 
he did not wish to be more vulnerable than he had already become, but equally great was his sudden and desperate need to be touched, to be held. biting the inside of his jaw hard enough to draw blood, merrick cleared his throat and offered her a sharply cold little smile.
”it’s all right if you do.” he simply would expect that one day the girl would wake and abandon him as all others had before. after all, why not?