Stone Circle Feeling Hotter Than a Glue Gun

He wasn't sure what he expected now, what kind of response he would hear or what it was exactly he wanted. The woodland boy felt like he was being torn in two. How could he protect those he loved if he only did things wrong? How could he protect them if he left? Maybe Polaris was right, maybe he was being selfish, abandoning all he loved so he wouldn't have to see the pain anymore.

After all, wouldn't it be easier to say they lived happily ever after without him? To leave and travel somewhere far away and assume life in Easthollow returned to the sun and stars he knew as a boy where everyone was a family. They were together, happy, with the bison grazing in the distance and the watchful stones that told those who passed by, "here lies an unshakable foundation of a family that had survived the generations".

It was all just a happy dream away, but one that was forever out of reach. Not so long as Ursus stood. Not so long as Clay's bones laid beneath the dirt. Polaris had only grown more explosive since his own outburst, and with good reason. Her yelling drowned him until his legs buckled beneath his weight, as sobs racked his body with each shaky breath. He didn't know what to do. What was right, what was wrong? He always picked the wrong choice, he always hurt her.

How could he say he loved her? She deserved to be happy, to make a new family. Polaris was right, she did understand for she had lost more than him, yet he believed he had the right to act like a child. She had lost everything, her parents, her siblings (kinda), her pack, yet she had come with the grace and beauty of the world when she set foot in Easthollow, never once letting those scars take her. Yet here he was, crying into the dirt making a fool of himself after throwing his heart out on a line.

She would never love him, not like this. He was so stupid. I'm sorry— West's voice came in a whisper, just barely rising above the gurgle of the river. He couldn't bear to look at her, not now, maybe never again. For once, he wished he could disappear into the earth, taken by the trees that matched his pelt and live the simple life of nature. He could stand tall, his leaves kissing the light of the sun as his branches provided shelter to the smaller creatures.

But of course, that was just another form of running. All he could do was dream of running. When had he become such a coward? All over, his body burned, pained by the shaking and cries while flushed with horrid embarrassment, yet he couldn't stop. The tears had long since blurred his vision and no matter how much he wiped they wouldn't stop. I—I'm so sorry—