Chapter 6
Over the next few weeks, Spider taught her how to live out in the wild. He taught her how to hunt, climb trees, use her senses to the utmost, and a bunch of other things. Over this time she fell completely in love with him, but every time she show her affections Spider would turn away. She could see the pain in his eyes and could tell that he was forcing himself to hold back. She tried to get him to tell her why he was acting like that, why he was so reluctant to tell her more about himself and his past, but he would either say that he wasn’t ready to tell or just remain quiet.
One day…she got fed up with this….
"I've had enough of this!" Shriek suddenly cried and rammed into Spider; knocking him to the ground and pinning him.
"Shriek?" Spider said shocked, "wh...what are yer doin'?"
"What am I doing? I am going to find out what you have been holding in all this time that's what!"
”Shriek…I told yer…I’m not ready ter…”
“Not ready…not ready…you always say that! When are you going to be ready to tell me? Don’t you realize that the longer you hold it in the more miserable you will become?”
“Better I be miserable then someone else!” Spider suddenly snapped and he knocked her off.
“You make it sound like you don’t ever want to be happy.”
“Of course I want ter be happy. But fate doesn’t want me ter be!”
“Why is that? What has happened to you before.”
“I don’t want ter say. Now jus’ drop it will yer…”
“No…I won’t drop it. I’m going to keep bugging you until you tell me!”
He didn't know what came over him, he just wanted to stop her from trying to get him to reveal what he didn't want to reveal. He smacked her and when he saw the look on her face he immediately felt guilty.
"Shriek...I..." he muttered.
Shriek let out a mournful wail and bolted, Spider chased after her.
"Shriek!" he cried, tears in his eyes, "Come back!"
She ran for quite a while before stumbling and she fell. She didn't get up again, just laid there sobbing. Spider laid down top of her, holding her tightly yet gently with his arms.
"I'm sorry..." he sobbed, "I never wanted ter hurt yer...I never wanted ter hurt anyone..."
"Then why..." Shriek asked, sobbing still, "Why do you always turn away when I show you affection? Do you not care for me?"
Spider got off her and stood up, head down and eyes closed. Shriek looked up at him, waiting to see if he would answer.
"I der care 'bout yer..." he finally answered, "it's jus' that...every time I gain happiness...the world comes crashin' down around me, bringing pain and death ter those I love. Last time...it jus' hurt so much that I felt that if I wasn't 'round anyone I couldn't hurt anyone else."
"So by keeping yourself from getting close to anyone..." Shriek started.
"...I would only be hurtin' myself." Spider finished for her, "Yet I am findin' it harder ter der then I thought it would be. When I first saw yer, I wasn't...sure if I should make myself known ter yer. I was actually followin' yer fer a while before that scrab decided yer looked like a tasty meal. When that happened, I jus' reacted and I knew I couldn't go back after that, 'specially after I realized that yer had no clue how ter survive on yer own. And the longer I stayed with yer...the more and more I feared somethin' would happen that would take yer away from me. I don' want ter lose yer...ever..."
He sank to his elbows then and sobbed quietly.
"I...understand." Shriek said as she nuzzled his neck comfortingly. Spider returned the gesture and the two rubbed necks for a moment. Then Spider gently held her face tentacles with his own and stared lovingly into her eyes. He let go after a moment, carefully moved his tentacles out of the way, and kissed her gently on the mouth. Shriek recoiled slightly in surprise at first, but accepted it eagerly, purring slightly with pleasure....
Epilogue next...
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