The Fighter and The Survivor

Why are you helping me?

Murven + red shoulder patch.

Richard Harmon’s 20-second-summary of Murphy’s relationship with Raven.

Let’s be real though… is he really over it, Richard? What are you telling us?

A finality creeps up when you watch someone important walking away. Panic wraps itself around you; settling into your skin, your blood, right down to the bone. ‘This is it,’ it whispers, ‘you’ve ruined everything.’

Raven knows, she’s been through it before with her mom. This is so much worse.

She knows how hard it was for him to say those words, to shed the persona he wears like armor and be vulnerable, even just for a moment. She knew and yet she’d froze. 

She was scared then but she is terrified now. 

“Murphy, stop!”

He pauses with one foot already inside his truck. He only turns his head toward her and she knows he could still leave.

“Why?”

There are so many things she wants to say. That she’s been miserable for the last week. She misses him. That the human piece of garbage, Kyle Wick, who is still lurking behind her means absolutely nothing to her.

But mostly, “because I love you, you idiot.”

His whole body whips towards her now and she wonders if he is even going to believe her. Neither of them move, and for a second she forgets how to breathe.