The Fault in Her Scars [DISCONTINUED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE]

[4]

When I woke, it was to the sound of laughter and voices. There was the pressure of a hand on my arm, and when my eyes finally fluttered open, I found Dani with a hand holding my wrist up, the other gently tracing the tattoo 'stay' that was imprinted there, as she gave out little trilling peals of laughter while talking to Buttons, who had been neatly tucked in next to her.

"Good morning, Dani," I said quietly, not wanting to interrupt those adorable giggles, but feeling that I should announce my conscious presence.

Dani tensed in my arms, her laughter fading away as she dropped my arm, ducking her head while mumbling a quiet greeting.

A moment later, Dani took up my hand again and rolled over to face me. Well, face my boobs, really. She seemed afraid of making eye contact whatsoever.

"Demi, what's this big black word on your wrist?"

I held both wrists up side by side. "They're tattooes, honey. There are black and white ones. Mine are black. Have you seen any before?"

Dani hesitantly ran a finger over both tattooes, tracing the design as she shook her head. And then, her finger went from tracing the tattoo to following a faded white line down my wrist.

"Is this a tattoo too?"

I bit my lip, resisting the urge to snatch my wrist from Dani's grip. I was fine with people looking at my tattoos, and not a lot of people have actually noticed and recognized those faded, almost invisible, white lines on my wrists, but when someone did, it always triggered the urge to hide.

"It's not a tattoo, honey. It.. It's just a mistake I made once."

At that, Dani slowly put my arm back down on the covers, rolling over so that her back was facing me.

I carefully inched closer to Dani. "What about you, honey?"

"What about me, what?" Dani asked, who now seemed completely engaged in making Buttons dance and jump around on the sheets as she imitated his voice in a lower key.

"Have you made any mistakes before?"

The energy in Dani seemed to deflate as she hugged Buttons to her chest, returning to the same emotionless girl I'd seen yesterday in the orphanage.

"No," she suddenly blurted, after a minute of silence. "No no no no, you can't do that."

I got the idea that she wasn't talking to me, and kept quiet as she spoke with whatever invisible people were in the room.

And then, when my phone started ringing, Dani fell silent.

I reached for my phone, and Dani instantly sat up, worry written all over her face. "No! Don't answer it. The government agents have all phones in the world bugged. You'll get killed!"

I was at crossroads here. If I answer the phone, Dani'll get bugged out and possibly cry, but if I don't answer whoever was at the other end of the line, I'd probably miss something important.

So which do I choose?

I looked over at Dani, who was obviously upset, her lower lip quivering and tears threatening to spill over in her eyes. Her arms were once again around Buttons, squeezing it tightly as she seemed to shrink even smaller than before.

"It's okay, Dani," I said finally. "I won't talk for long, all right? The government agents won't know a thing."

Dani's eyes were wide open in both horror and terror. "B-But they'll know. They can't find me. They'll kill me! Everyone is evil!"

"Even me?"

"Not you." Dani shook her head. "They told me that you were put on Earth to protect me."