The Perfect Machine: Kingdom Of Glass (GxG

22. You are no help at all

This morning when I got up, Harlow wasn't in the bedroom. I think she was unable to relax after what happened yesterday. Before I went downstairs, I took a shower to see if I could put together all the mixture of thoughts hunting me for in the last few days. But yet, I don't seem to be able to find a steady ground to position them on. It's like there's a storm swirling inside my head.

"Morning," Mary smiles, taking a sip of a cup as I go down the last step.

"Hi," I say back to her.

"How are you?" She asks as I rub my eyes.

"I'm fine, just tired," I reply, and she nods lightly.

"Do you want a cup of coffee or tea?" She offers.

"A coffee, please," I smile, appreciative of how decent she has been to us. Few people would have welcomed us in the way she did.

"Just give me a minute, and I'll make you one," She says, setting her cup on the kitchen counter.

"Do you know where Harlow is?" I ask, and she points to the back door, and I find myself out. I see that Harlow is doing chin-ups with her back towards me, hanging from a metal pole held by two threes.

"Oh yes, I should have warned you about that," I hear Mary say behind me, clearing her throat. I turn to her, and she's grinning from ear to ear, trying to taunt me. Harlow's shirtless at the moment; she's only wearing her sports bra while the sweat goes down her back. Every bit of her muscles flexes through her fair skin.

"You're no good at all," I growled, and she shrugged with a smile.

"Here," She offers me a cup of coffee, and I look at it.

"Fine," Mary mutters, taking the cup back inside. I watch Harlow end her workout by setting her feet on the ground.

"Oh, hey," She says, reaching for her bottle of water on the ground and taking a few sips.

"Are we going to talk?" I ask, folding my arms as I discover my path to her.

"Sure," She responds as she closes the bottle and tosses it back to the rough ground.

"I want to talk to you about what happened last night," I say to her, but she jumps back to the pole, making chin-ups again in front of me. The muscles in her shoulders and arms seem more robust than usual. I take a deep breath and try to look elsewhere.

"What happened?" She asks.

"You turned back and,"

"I know, and I'd like not to discuss it," She disrupts me as she stares at me.

"I'm going to pack my things tonight to find somewhere else to be, and you're going to go home." She lets go of the bar and places her feet down to the ground.

"Really?" I say stronger than expected.

"What do you want me to say?" Harlow asks, taking a step closer to me, so close that I would hit her stomach if I raised my hand. I look at her stunning black eyes. I could watch them all day as they're just that divine. It doesn't help that the sun is reflecting in them.

"I want you to fight," I reply.

"There's nothing to fight for, River. I don't have anything to fight for," She says this as though she thinks those words don't mean anything to me.

"That's not true," I protest and intertwine her hand with mine. I trace her dark veins with my fingertips.

"This is something we can fix," I reassure her, but she takes her hand out of my grasp.

"No, we can't," She responds, and I'm clenching my teeth as I feel so much rage and anger built up in my body.

"So, are you really going to let yourself die?" I ask brutally.

"Yes," She stated.

"What about me, then?" I wonder.

"You can go back home," Harlow ignores what I asked her. She doesn't get that it's impacting me. Harlow can't expect me not to worry about it; we've been through a lot already. She's been a friend of mine. How can she think I am emotionally able to know that she is going to die? It's not fair.

"Okay," I nod as I feel myself well up. I try to keep it from her, but I can't. Not that she cares anyways. I turn around to find myself back inside and lock the back door in frustration with tears.

"What's wrong?" Mary asks when she sees me entering the kitchen, but I don't utter a word. She opens her arms and I collapse into her maternal embrace.

"What's wrong?" She asks again, and I lean back as I dry my sore eyes.

"Harlow doesn't care," I mumble, and Mary smiles apologetically to me as she pulls my hair away from my face.

"Harlow does care for you. She's just protecting you,"