There's an Albatross Around Your Neck

Je vous souhaite d'être follement aimée. —André Breton, L’amour fou ("My wish is that you may be loved to the point of madness") 

[brayandamico-blog]

“Based on what criteria? Because I’m attractive?”

[daisylandon-blog]

“No,” she says firmly, crossing her arms, “Because you don’t put up with my bullshit and you don’t get all offended. Besides, I’m way out of your league.” 

[auggie-hayes-blog]

“Not bullshit.” He says with a smile. “I fact checked and everything. She was in that city that night, no mistaking it was her.”

[daisylandon-blog]

“I think you had a little too much to drink that night, sweetie. Beer goggles are a powerful thing.” 

[chase-mooore-blog]

He raised an eyebrow watching her. “Thank ya for fixin’ the pressure, but I could’ve done that. Can ya do me a favor and write a note for both sides sayin’ there’s somethin’ wrong with the temperature. I’d have to go around back after I’m dressed to check on that.”

[daisylandon-blog]

“No, I’m good. I think you’ve got it covered.” 

[chase-mooore-blog]

Chase grumbles a bit as he follows her. “Cold. Th-that and it doesn’t seem to ‘ave the water pressure it normally has.”

[daisylandon-blog]

Looks over it for a second before reaching up and screwing the shower head back into place, “There. Should be all fixed. You’re welcome.” 

[dahlialysokowsky]

“Oh. I just got here today. So you’re definitely far ahead of me by now.”

[daisylandon-blog]

“Sweet. I fuckin’ hate being the new kid,” she looks at her steadily, “You got a name?” 

[auggie-hayes-blog]

Auggie furrowed his brow and nods. “Right, of course I am. Anyway,” He says to continue his story not even slightly discouraged. “It wasn’t supposed to happen and she swore she didn’t normally do this but there I was taking Taylor Swift back to my hotel room.”

[daisylandon-blog]

“Bullshit. I’m calling bullshit. There is absolutely no way that happened.” 

[brayandamico-blog]

“You don’t know me.”

[daisylandon-blog]

“I’d like to. You have the most potential to be a good acquaintance.” 

[chase-mooore-blog]

There’s a shriek from the shower and a shivering, soaking wet Chase comes out in a towel and stutters, “S-somethin’s wrong with the shower all the way on the left.”

[daisylandon-blog]

“What’s wrong with it?” she says as she starts moving towards it. 

[dahlialysokowsky]

“Are you new here too?” She asks, silently hoping she isn’t alone in this. Dahlia wasn’t new to being the new girl, but the title came with a lot of anxiety after years of moving through different homes and experiencing varying degrees of welcome.

[daisylandon-blog]

“I’m a few months new, but no one really knows me.” 

[brayandamico-blog]

“And without a bow, what damage was I going to do? Were you expecting me to whack you over the head with a plastic arrow?“ He looks at her. “Like what?” he asks in exasperation.

[daisylandon-blog]

“I just don’t like arrows, okay?” she shakes her head, “I don’t know, you’re the only person I know. I don’t want to be alone.” 

[brayandamico-blog]

“No, I didn’t. How was that messing around?” He walks back to storage and puts the arrow and bow away before attempting to leave again.

[daisylandon-blog]

“You had it pointing right at me,” she scowls, but doesn’t want him to leave. “Do you want to just do something else?” 

[dahlialysokowsky]

Dahlia’s eyes fall upon a cabin which, admittedly, she’s a bit skeptical of. It looks far too rough to be a home dedicated to Demeter, but she doesn’t want to upset the other girl by pointing this out. “Oh! Thank you very much. I appreciate it.”

[daisylandon-blog]

Daisy looks around, realizing that they’re in the wrong cabin, “Okay, dude, I gotta admit- I don’t know where the fuck it is.” 

[brayandamico-blog]

Brayan quickly moves the arrow away from her face and his frown deepens. “I wasn’t going to hurt you.”

[daisylandon-blog]

“Didn’t you hear about the kid who got killed by an arrow? You shouldn’t mess around like that!” 

[brayandamico-blog]

Brayan quickly moves the arrow away from her face and his frown deepens. “I wasn’t going to hurt you.”

[daisylandon-blog]

“Didn’t you hear about the kid who got killed by an arrow? You shouldn’t mess around like that!” 

[brayandamico-blog]

He frowns at her and then puts the tip of the arrow in her face. “Imagine this arrow flying at your face at 350 miles per second. You’d die. Plain and simple. It’s nowhere near as fast as a bullet, but guns are loud and bullets are expensive. Bows and arrows are stealth weapons. Can you make a bullet? No. But even the most primitive people could make arrows. And there is a lot more that goes into shooting an arrow than just pulling back and letting go. It’s all physics and your muscles are essentially the gunpowder.”

[daisylandon-blog]

Daisy’s breathing and heartbeat pick up as she stares at the tip of the arrow, visibly uncomfortable. She wants to cry, or scream, because now she knows, she knows what David looked at seconds before he went down. It hurts like hell, but she refuses to cry, trying to listen as best as she can. “Get that away from me,” she says, trying to sound firm and only sounding scared. 

[brayandamico-blog]

“Really?” he says with mock surprise and then he reaches out to take the bow and arrow from her. “Because it’s harder than it looks, right?”

[daisylandon-blog]

“Right,” she looks at him as though she’s now ready to hold onto every word. 

[brayandamico-blog]

“What would be the point?” he says but he walks back over to the bows anyway and picks one up and an arrow. He hands both objects to Daisy. “Okay. Go shoot the center of that target,” he tells her without any further direction. He folds his arms over his chest, a clear indication that he’s not going to help her.

[daisylandon-blog]

She looks down at the arrow, still wondering how it could possibly kill someone, “I can’t.”