"I caught them all for you."
All for you.
For
You.
"Aren't they pretty?"
---
She nestled down in the tall grass and waited. The sun had finally sunk below the trees, and the darkness was beginning to settle down. Her eyes darted left and right, watching.
It flickered only briefly.
"A ha!" She jumped forward and gently clapped her hands together. She opened them just a little bit, in time to see another wink of yellow light.
She broke into the kind of grin that only little girls are capable of, and carried her prize back to where she had been hiding. With a bit of effort and some creative positioning, she let it into the jar she had there. It was alive with floating faeries, little beacons of light.
She hugged the shimmering jar to herself and carried it home.
"Medli! Where the hell have you been?" her big brother asked as she climbed up the steps onto the back porch.
The wide smile on her face faltered a little.
"Bad word," she said, but shook her head and walked towards him. "I was gettings fireflies," she said proudly. "Lots of them!"
"Why do you always waste your time? Didn't Mom give you something to do earlier?"
She stopped in front of him.
"Yes, but, but...!"
"But what?"
"I caught them all for you." She held the jar up to him, showed him the way it lit up randomly. "Aren't they pretty?"
"Get that away from me!" He knocked it from her hands.
It fell onto the porch and shattered. Panicked spots of light scattered away from it. She stared at the broken glass, her little mouth hanging open, despair written plainly across her face.
She looked up at him and tears welled up in her eyes.
---
One slipped down her cheek and stung the fresh cut. She winced violently and let out a little cry.
"No, no--stop!--it hurts, Zero, it hurts," she sobbed. She pressed herself further back against the wall.
"Shh," he said, and held her more strongly.
The blade dug into her skin again. Diagonal this time. Deeper.
She cried out helplessly and writhed against him.
"Please, I'm begging you..." She felt the blood running down her cheek with the tears. "I'll be so much better..."
"You will be," he whispered to her soothingly. "I promise."
"It hurts," she choked. "Oh God..."
He pressed it in harder and pulled it sideways now. She made a strangled noise in her throat.
"It's good for you, Medli... Making you stronger - better. It hurts me, too."
"Why...?" she left the question unfinished. She tried to blink back tears, tried to keep from crying in front of him more than she had.
"Because I love you, Medli. I'm doing it for you - I'm doing it all for you.
All for you..."
She stared into his eyes, terrified.
"I feel so wrong," she whispered.
He leaned closer to her and smiled, and whispered against her lips, "But I'm making you right."
He pressed his lips to hers and kissed her deeply.