Gentle touch

Big bad wolf

The girl rested her elbows on the coffee table, her head resting on her hands. Colouring proved to be a bore, and Lottie was preoccupied, reading a book on the couch. The blonde had promised that she'd 'play' with the girl soon, not that it brought any excitement to Alexa.

She looked across from her, to see Cooper chewing on a ball. Alexa decided that she would go and play with Cooper, the red ball looked like much more fun, compared to mind numbing colouring. She gave Lottie a glance, the woman was still focused on the book, flicking to the next page. Alexa shifted herself to the opposing side of the coffee table, hoping she would be hidden by the table.

With a slow crawl, she tried to make her way to Cooper, feeling stealthy. What she had failed to notice was Lottie staring at her, having put a book mark in the novel. Alexa had her head ducked as she made her way across.

"What are you doing sweetie?" The voice spoke abruptly, the girl jumped just as she was about get to the edge of the table. Her nose collided with the table corner, she gasped in pain, feeling stinging in her nose. She shifted back, sitting on her knees, "ow." She groaned.

Lottie seemed frozen for a moment, widened eyes as she watched the sight in front of her. She tossed the back to her side, seemingly woken up from her daze, she shot up from the couch. Lottie rushed over to the girl, Alexa stared at the ground, suddenly seeing drips of red falling onto the wooden flooring. She looked up at Lottie, "I think I'm bleeding." She told her, Lottie mouth opened slightly, looking down at the floor.

The blonde scanned the room for tissues, "one second...sweetie just wait right there, don't move or touch your nose!" Lottie spoke, rushing out of the room. Alexa didn't share the same panic, her nose ached but nothing she couldn't handle.

Seeing the mess on the floor, she was tempted to wipe it away with her sleeve, she really didn't like the splatter on the floor. It was all she could focus on, she felt a tissue being pushed underneath her nose, "can you hold this in place whilst mama carries you to the bathroom?" Lottie softly asked.

Alexa nodded, taking hold of the issue, the more she stared at the floor, the more dizzy she was becoming. An unpleasant fuzz in her mind, and she was suddenly aware of the blood gushing from her nose.

Upon entering the downstairs bathroom, Lottie placed her onto the corner, concerned eyes fixated on the girl. She gently took Alexa's hand off the tissue, also pulling the tissue away. "The bleeding's not as heavy anymore." Lottie spoke, Alexa gave a slight head nod in recognition. She sat idly as her nose was cleaned up, when Lottie turned to put the tissues in the trash can, she looked down to see blood splatters on her dress.

It reminded her of the second day, when Lottie was wiping her teary face. How things had changed in such a short time, she feared the fire was dying down completely, it was almost as if she could hear the hissing sound inside of her, the sound of the flames dwindling.

She looked down at her knees, feeling ashamed. She may not have been able to change that, but she could feel guilty about something else.

"I'm sorry about getting the floor dirty." She murmured, "and my dress." Alexa added. Lottie put her hands on the girls shoulders, "it's not your fault, if anything it's mamas fault for asking when you were so close to the table." She reassured, "it's my blood." Alexa muttered. "Yes and the blood will come off your dress, and the floor can easily be cleaned, no need to fret Lex."

On habit, her cheek was taken in between her teeth. She gave a meek nod, she was certain there was going to be a bruise on her nose by tomorrow, or perhaps she was being melodramatic. Alexa couldn't quite tell, but her nose ached.

"You handled this so well sweetie, better than mama did." Lottie mused with a smile, Alexa attempted to force a smile, "I'm used to nose bleeds." She shrugged.