BAMBI DEER

Siobhan Diomed

▄︻デS̷i̷o̷b̷h̷a̷n̷ ̷D̷i̷o̷m̷e̷d̷══━一

"ɪꜰ ꜱᴏᴍᴇᴏɴᴇ ᴘᴜᴛꜱ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ʜᴀɴᴅꜱ ᴏɴ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ꜱᴜʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇʏ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴘᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ʜᴀɴᴅꜱ ᴏɴ ᴀɴʏʙᴏᴅʏ ᴇʟꜱᴇ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ."― ᴍᴀʟᴄᴏᴍ x

Pitiful.

She was pitifully stupid.

I slid into my car, slamming the door shut so hard I could hear the hinges creak. In the distance from my car, I could still see the girl from the gas station; she was a small fragile, feeble little thing with shoulder length dark chocolate colored tightly curly hair, brown beady eyes, plump lips, and a tiny button nose dressed in church going appearing attire: a dark denim blue knitted turtleneck that covered most of her neck and arms, and an ankle length floral patterned skirt that covered and more of her legs. She was average sized in height, yet with all her shivering and sniveling, she looked like some sort of huddling terrified small creature. Her body was thin and bony, and she couldn't be any more than a hundred pounds, I was certain. I knew that body type. Rounded and petite. Small enough to be packed neatly into the trunk of a car and slander enough you could snap every bone in their body like a twig.

In fact?

I scrutinized her.

Maybe she could even fit into a 12x12 container. It would have to be heavy duty, with a top lid thick and with enough weigh to keep her head from protruding through the top. So, maybe she really fit. Maybe.

ᴛʜᴀᴛ'ꜱ ᴀ ɴᴀᴜɢʜᴛ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛ, ꜱɪᴏ.

The angel of my moral compass scolding me, so I suppressed the dangerous thought.

My eyes continued to observe as she fiddled with her backpack looking around, clearly unsure whether to cry or have a mental breakdown. Her light brown eyes were peering into the distance as she stared. Hurt. That's the look her eyes possessed. Anyone could tell she was eroding like sand on a beach. Whatever mental battle she was fighting, there was no way she was winning.

How long had it been since I'd seen a look like that?

She was so young to be going through things like that. So young, frail, and delicate, like a porcelain doll at the edge of a shelf.

She risked breaking, and she had to feel it---but instead she was ignoring it; Ignoring reality like some stupid, ignorant dolt.

Stupid. It was so, so, stupid. If she needed help, why didn't she just go and get it? I'm sure at her age she has parents, friends, or, for god's sake, a school counselor or teacher. All she had to do was speak up.

She didn't have to let herself be stepped on like how---ꜱʜᴇ ʀᴇᴍɪɴᴅꜱ ᴍᴇ ᴏꜰ ʜᴇʀ.

I locked my jaw, my grimace growing thick as my head started to flood with her voice, her smile, her laughter, her kisses, her skin, her tears, her frowns, her pain, 𝙃𝙀𝙍 𝘽𝙇𝙊𝙊𝘿.

ꜱɪᴏ?

I felt strands of hair descend to my shoulder, tickling my neck.

ꜱɪᴏ?

I kept my eyes straight ahead as I tried to fight the phantom sensations of a smooth hand appearing from nowhere, running a slow hand down from my shoulder to my chest.

ꜱɪᴏ?

I could hear shallow, weak breathing blowing against my cheeks. More strands of hair crawled down my neck as I felt her presence draw close towards my ear.

ꜱɪᴏ?

I swore I felt breathing against my ears as a low, raspy voice continued to speak.

ꜱɪᴏ? ᴡʜʏ?

Her hand continued to trail down my chest.

ᴡʜʏ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅɴ'ᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ꜱᴀᴠᴇ--

CLICK!

I jammed my key into the ignition, letting the rumbling growl of my car's engine interrupt my thoughts.

Inhaling sharply, I slicked my hair back from my face.

I can't just sit here. I've got to go. I have business. Business that will take me one step closer to justice, or one more step towards insanity.

As I started driving, the sad dopey girl from the gas station somehow ended walking directly in front of my car.

SCREECH!

My foot rammed as fast as my instincts would allow against the brakes.

She stopped whipping her head towards the car, the fear so deep in her gaze it was palpable. I could see there was a slight tremble to her arms and a glassy, vulnerable look in her eyes. She was desperately holding back her tears. She was afraid, yet for some reason she was still standing there like some deer in the headlights.

ꜱʜᴇ ʀᴇᴍɪɴᴅꜱ ᴍᴇ ᴏꜰ ʜᴇʀ.

I smacked my car horn so hard my knuckles were protruding.

"Move it!" I shouted, knowing she could probably only hear me faintly since the windows weren't down. "Move!" I smacked my car horn again and apparently the second time did its charm, because she hurriedly scurried away.

Pitiful.

She was pitifully stupid.

I put my foot on the gas pedal, revving up the engine to speed out of the gas station parking lot.

She was lucky I stopped the car before it ran her over. I've never stopped on deers on any highway because normally, Ｉ ｒｕｎ ｔｈｅｍ ｏｖｅｒ.