Smoov Operator

“I’m sorry,” Arthur said. He didn’t push for further details—Charles was here in front of him, and not dead in some potter’s grave after having been hung by the neck or lined up against a wall and shot. It was clear, from where Arthur stood, what had happened. Charles nodded, going quiet. Then he hunched in on himself, bracing as the dam broke. “I thought,” he started, then choked, voice small and so, so painfully young. “I thought maybe there was somethin’ wrong, in me. That made folks treat me the way they do. That was why he, my own father, could—” Arthur’s heart broke when Charles looked up, turning those reddened eyes towards him. Tear tracks stained the boy’s cheeks. “But you’ve been so kind to me,” Charles keened, sobs wracking his shoulders. “Even when I went and did something so stupid, you came back for me. Risked your life, for me. So why? If it wasn’t me, if it wasn’t my fault—how could he do that to me? I loved him. He was all I had, and I killed him, and I loved him.”  Arthur’s resolve snapped. The tin plate clattered to the forest floor as he lunged forward, wrapping the sobbing teen in the biggest bear hug he could muster.  “I’m so sorry, Charles,” he whispered fiercely, tucking the young man’s head under his chin protectively. “He failed you, kid. It weren’t your fault. It wasn’t ever your fault.” 

yet another WIP