continued from here with @filthy-goddamn-freakshow.

The gentle touch startled Jimmy and he looked at Sally as she traced a fingertip over one of his more noticeable scars. He had so many marks on his body that he barely where could recall where half of them even came from but that one was still as fresh in his mind as the day it happened.

“Stupid townie attacked me with a knife…” He reached up to take her small hand into his own clawed one. “He was hurtin’ one of the girls…forcin’ himself on her an’ I walked in on it.” Chuckling bitterly he took another drink of his beer. “He’s buried out in some field in Alabama jus’ like that copper we buried here…sure there ain’t no one missin’ him.”

the mermaid’s hand closed around his, a gentle squeeze that secured her hold around clawed fingers. she didn’t flinch at the touch, nor did she look away as the darling boy told her every detail of his story, saddened gaze lifting from jimmy’s permanent scar to set itself on his moving lips. sally had seen an unmarked grave before, patches of loose dirt and a bunch of rocks, piled together by the roots of a withered tree right outside camp; though she never dared coming to him for answers. some things were better off left in the dark, everyone was entitled to having secrets of their own —- goodness knew that she did, too many of them.

❝ you did what you had to do, honey. nothing wrong with looking after your own. ❞ with the scent of alcohol and sweat coming in through her nose, sally moved her ring covered hand to brush a loose strand of hair away from the boy’s forehead, fingertips caressing the side of his face until they closed around his chin. ❝ are you gonna share some of that with the lady? ❞