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𝐒𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐄𝐋 𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐀's entire body shuddered with the impact of his father's knuckles against his cheek. 

He closed his eyes, absorbing the blow with every molecule in his body, letting the pain wash over him completely. He knew better at this point than to do anything to fight back, or even protect himself... nothing was going to help, if anything it would make everything worse. 

He felt two firm, rough hands on his shoulders and he was tilting, falling backwards... he allowed himself to crumple, his cheek hitting the dirt. 

Sam's nose filled with dust from the barn floor when he took a shuddering breath in, staring blankly across from him at the hooves of the horse in one of the stalls. 

Sam drew into himself, curling into a ball on the ground as he felt another sharp pain in the form of a kick aimed at his ribs. 

"That'll teach you to steal my horses," his father barked, spitting at him fiercely. 

But they aren't your horses, the new future bruises on Sam's body screamed. And I didn't steal them! They're Eden's horses, he can do with them what he wants. They aren't yours!

Sam remained silent, only wiping the spit off his cheek when his dad was long gone. 

He didn't really feel like crying, but the tears came anyways. They streamed hot and angry down his cheeks, obscuring his vision and dripping off his chin on the dirt.  

He rolled onto his back. The patchy wooden ceiling greeted him in his anguish, the sun peering through the slats as if to tell him everything else in the world was at peace except for him. Sam would believe it... it certainly seemed like the truth. He couldn't think of a single person he knew who could understand this torture. To be fair, he didn't have many friends other than Eden... and Eden knew how his dad was... but he didn't know the full extent. Sam didn't know if he'd ever build up the strength to tell him. 

He could already see his face in his head if he ever did tell him everything... the sadness he imagined in his eyes was worse than the marks on his skin. Eden was almost always off in his own world... Sam was not going to be the one to send him crashing back to earth. Not in a million years. 

Once he'd asked about a cut on Sam's lip and, foolishly, he'd told him he'd just done something to piss his dad off. The look of worry and absolute confusion on his face was... 

No. He just couldn't do that again. Not now, not ever. 

Sam pushed himself to his feet, a deep ache in his stomach nearly knocking him back over. He felt dizzy and unbalanced and when he reached up to touch his nose, it came back bloody. He clutched his stomach, hobbling toward the barn door. 

Sam cursed under his breath. He knew Eden's mother often walked around the gardens at this time of morning, and he couldn't let her see him... if his father ever got fired, that was it for him, he'd have nothing. No horses, no Eden. 

Without thinking twice Sam ducked behind the barn, and when he was positive the coast was clear, made a shaky run for the woods past the property. 

As soon as his feet breached the line of trees, a little blanket of relief fell over him. He liked the woods... most of the youth of their realm did. It was cool and sheltered, and full to the brim with fae, including some who weren't the friendliest... but even so, their presence made your chest feel a little more full than it had before. 

He and Eden used to spend every second of the summer that Sam wasn't working in the woods. They'd race to climb the giant evergreens and dance with any fairies they could get to talk to them in the evenings and try and spot the elves that hid themselves beneath the tree roots... and, when the days got especially unbearably hot, they'd swim in the river or at the pond they'd found hidden in a grove five miles away from the house. 

Sam's heart fluttered. The pond... they hadn't been there in a good while now, mostly because it hadn't been hot enough to make the walk. They spent a good bit of their time during the fall playing cards in the gardens instead, hidden in the tall sunflowers where they were less likely to get caught. 

Sam moved as quickly as he could physically manage through the trees, down the route he had stored in his muscle memory... he didn't think he could ever forget it. 

He allowed himself to zone out, purely focused on his moving feet... it made the pain a little better. He already missed Eden deeply, it felt like a piece of his life was missing... but he was glad he wasn't around to see him like this. He could already feel his under-eye swelling up like a golf ball. 

Thinking about him made the pain better, too. He thought about his cheeks, forever pink and scarred with memories. He thought about the moles on his arms and his blue eyes and his eyelashes... and his hands. And that shiny look in his eyes when he was plotting would never not knock him off his feet. 

Sam wasn't blind. Eden could be a little selfish sometimes. But, god, if it wasn't something Sam loved about him... he loved the way he got so wrapped up in ideas of his own destiny or a new way to inspire himself... he loved the way he got so focused that he couldn't be broken out of it for anything. He was one of those people you'd read about in folklore... the protagonist, the fool, the romantic interest. Sam was just happy to be along for the ride. 

Sam would feel this pain a thousand times over just to somehow assist in Eden's plot. 

He sniffled, wiping at his nose with his sleeve too hard and wincing. Blood dripped over his lips and tears stung his eyes again and he stumbled, pausing to lean against a tree and catch his breath. 

"Oh dear," a soft voice came from a few feet away, and Sam struggled to raise his chin to see who had spoken. 

A beautiful girl was staring at him with huge brown eyes, clutching a basket of colorful flowers in her arms. Her dark brown curls hung nearly down to her knees, and her slightly parted lips revealed a thin gap between her two front teeth. She was wearing a light green dress, embroidered with a pattern of pink azaleas, and she didn't seem to be wearing shoes... Sam's first thought was fairy, but fairies didn't tend to be so... big. 

"Are you alright?" the girl asked in that same soft tone, leaning over to set down her basket and rushing towards him, her eyes twinkling with genuine concern. 

"Hnng," Sam groaned, attempting to reply but falling short. He pressed his forehead against the bark of the tree to try and stop the world from spinning. 

The girl's hands wrapped around his wrists, and her deep brown skin was just as soft as it had appeared. 

"What has happened to you?" she whispered, reaching up to stroke his temple, and Sam felt the self control rush out of him. 

He sobbed, squeezing his eyes shut tightly, the tears flowing from them uncontrollably. He felt the girl touching his face, but she didn't feel like a stranger... it was comforting, like the touch of a loved one. 

"Come with me," she told him, and he obeyed, letting her take his hand. 

The girl led him through a thicket of bushes, into a clearing... a clearing he knew all too well. He'd walked farther than he'd thought... 

Another sob rose up in his chest as memories flooded his already heavy mind at the sight of the pond, and the girl hummed sympathetically, rubbing the back of his hand with her thumb. She gently pushed him down to the grass and sat beside him, and he automatically moved to lay down. She took his head in her lap, moving her long fingers over his short hair. 

"What happened to you?" she asked again, watching him attentively. Sam whimpered. 

"I gave Eden a horse," he mumbled. He knew she likely had no idea who he was talking about, but for some reason... he felt that she would understand somehow. She was looking at him like she did, anyways. "And I k-knew I would get in trouble, s-so it's really okay..." 

"It doesn't look like it's okay," she whispered, her fingertips continuing their soothing journey over his head. She wiped away some of the blood with the skirt of her dress. 

"It is, though," Sam told her, meeting her cavernous brown eyes with his own. "It was worth it." 

"To give Eden a horse?" 

Sam nodded shakily. "He needs to be safe," he said firmly. 

She hummed, staying quiet for a moment, and Sam closed his eyes. The grass beneath his legs and her hands on his face were giving him a moment of calm, and he couldn't have appreciated it more. Her presence was the same kind of sensation he got from the fae, but more intense. An intense peace somewhere in his chest. 

"And you don't think he can keep himself safe?" she asked finally, her voice quiet and warm in his ears. 

Sam whimpered, bringing his hands up to his face. "I d-don't know, but if I don't do something, what g-good am I in his story?" 

He wiped away the tears desperately. He was so tired of crying... he was so tired. 

He felt something wet land on his arm and he brought his hands away from his eyes, peering up at her... he was surprised to see she was weeping, her cheeks glistening with newly shed tears. She smiled sadly back at him, cupping his chin as if he was only a small child in her arms. 

"I'm sorry..." she mumbled. "I can feel your suffering... here." She touched his chest with her palm, and then her own. "I can feel it in myself when I touch you." 

Sam stared up at her in awe. He was finally realizing what he was doing... he was laying in this complete stranger's lap, letting her caress him and spilling everything out to her... and he didn't even know her name. And, even so, it didn't feel wrong at all. It felt like opening up to an old friend. 

"What are you?" he rasped, his eyes wide. She wasn't human like him, he knew that much. 

The girl smiled, wiping away his tears with her thumb. "Some would say I'm a witch," she replied. 

"Some?"

"Yes," she said, her smile widening until Sam could see the gap between her teeth. "Some. Some would say I'm Angelina." She took his hand, clutching it beside her heart. "And some would say you're Samael." 

Sam blinked. "How did you know that?"

She laughed... it was a light sound, like ringing bells. "Some would say it's because I'm a witch." 

Sam pressed his lips together tightly, and it stung. His father must have split his lip after all... he hadn't felt it before. 

"I love him," he whispered, the tears welling up in his chest again, spilling over. She watched him empathetically. "So much."

"I know..." 

Sam wanted to bawl his eyes out... he wanted to wail and bury his face in this girl's dress and break down completely, but that didn't come. He let his body relax, his breathing coming slow and raspy. 

He watched Angelina lean over, bending over the pond and collecting the water in her cupped hands... and then he felt her tilting her hands over his face. He shut his eyes as she brushed her fingertips over his face... 

And Sam must have drifted off... because when he opened his eyes again, the forest was dim and quiet, drenched in golden evening light... 

And the girl was gone. 

And so was any trace that his father had lay a hand on him only a few hours before.