“Say something, nephew,” he spits, “Tell me how scared of me you are, that you’ll never trust me again.” I breathe out shakily and lift my hand, flipping him off with a flick of my wrist. He looks down at it, then laughs. 

I stare at him shaking and then finally choke out, “I am terrified of you.” He pauses just long enough to acknowledge it and then pulls away. Only to very carefully switch out the bandaids. I watch as he reaches for the glovebox. I look as he hands me a bag. I stare at him and then look back down not sure what to expect. When I open it I let out a shuddering gasp, a doll bed and blanket kit and a full doll tea set. I’d forgotten about it completely at the store but it seems like he didn’t. 

I am crying and I cover my eyes for a second before reaching for Bird’s cage and pouring the poor fairy some water. They ignored all the food but thankfully seemed too desperate to ignore the water even seeming to enjoy the thought of the doll cup itself. I smile. I open the bed kit and the madman side eyes me and quietly mentions, 

“Careful not to let it bite you, if they get a taste of blood they can never eat anything else but it again.”

I feel my hand pause and to my surprise act completely normal as I shove the blanket and pillow and soft padded mattress in the cage. Removing the unwanted food.

He looks back at the boar. “I’m thinking about just killing him.”

I flinch. After a long time I look at the madman, “He’s mostly just scared, I’m scared, please just…tell me what’s actually going on.” I beg my “uncle”, “Are you planning on hurting me again, k, killing me?” 

“The same rules apply to you as him.” He opens the car door and steps down, still facing me, “I won’t hurt you unless you endanger me or my research in some way.” 

I step out of the truck enjoying fresh air and walking, instinctively following behind the madman in silence for a while. A long, long while.

“How are your stitches?” I ask finally. 

He glances at me, “They’re fine.”

I press carefully, “Have you been treating it? Or anything?”

He shakes his head no. 

He makes a noise, “Remind me to treat it when we get back to the car.” I can tell it’s to get me to drop it so I lower my head and nod. Then seemingly out of the blue he asks, “Do you need to talk about it, the near death experience?”

I stop, looking down and realize I do want to talk about it, “You’ve never lost your cool like that.”

He laughs like he finds it amusing. “I get stressed when things deviate from how I have them planned.” 

I’m not sure what to say about that. “Did you care about me getting hurt at all.” I say it so softly I doubt at first that he heard me.

“Yes, because you’re mine. I didn’t put in all those months of effort just to let some pig eat you.”

I step towards him quickly and wrap my arms around him. ‘It’s superficial but it’s what I wanted, needed to hear right now.’ I’m surprised once again that he lets me hold him as long as I need. When I look up he’s distracted by his own thoughts but has a slightly uncomfortable tense line of a mouth. He waits until I step away and then continues walking.

We walk through the park never going out of sight of the tow truck. I enjoy it everytime I lose sight of the madman and it’s just me and the trees in the underbrush. 'He may have saved my life but doesn't he also constantly threaten it?' I really don’t know what to think. I slowly sit down and after a minute he realizes I’ve done so. 

“I need a minute.” I say and he nods, continuing to walk and stretch his legs.

I close my eyes letting out a breath I felt like I was holding forever. It feels so good to be by myself and alone. I push away all thoughts and lay in the grass curling up.

I look up realizing how stiff I’ve gotten. How long have I just been laying there? I get up and wince cramped until my muscles warm up enough to relax. It must have been a few hours. I look towards the truck. An older couple is cooing over the baby as my “uncle” takes care of her. I walk out of the woods and towards him.

“Is this another one of yours?”

The madman turns and smiles in a way that I feel everything I knew about the man come to a screeching halt, “Yes this is my nephew, I took him in after his parents passed away.”

I lift my hand instinctively to acknowledge the older couple who make noises of pity. He gives me a subtle wave of his hand behind his back to get into the truck so I do. I notice that the boar is in a different position now and breathing a little deeper. 

His eyes flicker and he looks at me blearily. Still out of it. I reach back and adjust the bag he was using as a pillow to support his neck better. Bird has buried itself in its bed hiding underneath the blankets. I miss seeing the fairies' pretty wings but understand its need for privacy and sleep.

The madman situates the baby in her carseat and then says pleasant goodbyes to the older couple. 

I wait for a while until we’re on the road again and then breathe, “You can smile like a normal person.”

“Well yes it’s called acting.”

“Can you…” I fiddle with my warm brown hair and then hoodie strings, “I know it’s fake but can you pretend to be a normal person like that in front of me every now and again?”

“I might but then it’ll be all the more jarring when I drop the facade.” 

“Thank you.” I say making him narrow his eyes because it was more of a no then a yes. I turn towards him, relaxing against the divider to look back at the boar. He’s making noises as he comes to. 

I wait until he’s fully awake looking around, out the window, checking on his sister and then offer him a granola bar and water bottle. He smiles a little and I remember he’s shackled. I start to crawl into the backseat but the madman grabs my hoodie. Not too hard but a silent no. I lower myself back into the passenger seat and look at him confused. 

“Let him suffer.” He says and I quickly draw my limbs in on myself away from the psychopath. He doesn’t seem to care as I turn away from him and pull on my headphones. I feel a surge of anger and partially want to rebel but I wait. I’d take care of him later. 

                            .                   .                    .            The Campsite                 .                 .                  .

My headphones shift as one ear is exposed. 

“We’re going to have to camp outside tonight.” 

I jerk upright, “what?! No, I can't sleep outside! Not after seeing what can be in these woods!” 

The madman just frowns at me. “I’m going to make a safe circle.” 

“Okay well you better make one around the car too because I’m sleeping in it for extra protection.” I watch his expressionless face and then he shrugs. 

I relax. 

I turn back to the road to see that we’re pulling into an open spot in the woods, still plenty close to the road. 

I look out the window as he starts making camp and then glance at the bird. It must be hungry. I pull the cage close to me and it peeks out from under the blanket. I don't make an expression as it bites me. 

I feel as though I’m being watched and out of the corner of my eye I think I see the teens' soft black eyes. 

‘Would he say something? Tell on me? Does he even know what I’m doing?’ I pretend I never noticed him watching as I look down at the fairy. It’s sitting on its knees, hands holding my finger as it licks the blood droplets that formed from its sharp teeth. 

I tilt my head at it and the little thing looks up at me, less hateful and more calculating now. I think the blanket and the teacup helped. I wait until the fairy is full and to my surprise this time heals my finger. There’s a soft sparkle of light and then the throb of my finger disappears. I pour it some more water and then the teenager whispers, “Why are you feeding it blood and not nectar?” My ears perk up and I worry that if I turn to him the madman will intervene again. 

“It bit me when I tried to feed it the first time and seemed to really like the taste of my blood so I let it have it.”

I can sense him judging me but the energy shifts. 

“I’ll help you collect nectar for it, it’ll eat both.” He keeps his head down and then makes a soft snort. “You’re weird.” 

I start and look at him and just like I predicted the madman opens the backseat where the boar teen was and to my horror grabs the chain connecting his neck and wrists yanking him out backwards. I place the cage down carefully and scramble after the madman who now has his boot on the wheezing teenager. 

“Stop.” I exclaim, frightened, “He didn’t do anything to threaten you or your work.”

“He’s not supposed to be talking to you.” The man presses his boot down harder for emphasis. Making me wonder if he’d had conversations with him while I was asleep or using the bathroom.

“I’m sorry.” The teen gasps. He flinches as the steel toed boot I realize, tucks under his chin and he jerks his head back as if burned. I jump forward before I can think and push the madman off of him. I look down shocked at myself and then tense standing a little protectively over the teen. “If you don’t want me to feel bad for him you’re doing the opposite. Seriously he’s just a kid like me you shouldn’t be so rough.”

“He’s an ogre.”

“Who chose to be vegetarian!” 

“For fucks sake, if you were to give him the chance he’d take a chunk out of you!” The madman takes a step forward, “In fact if you were to bleed even a little I’d bet he’ll lose his head trying to eat you.”  

I shudder recalling the memory, tightening my arms around myself a little I move a step back from the boar. 'I'm afraid of them both.' The boar winces. I watch as the madman leans down grabbing the teen by the chain again and easily drags him to a post that he then chains him to. I look around cautiously at the woods. It’s getting dark way too fast and the- A harsh cry causes me to jump. I turn to my uncle to see that he had apparently given the teen a sharp kick.

“You deserved it!” I exclaim frantically knowing it's going to hurt even if I keep silent, “I’m not going to not talk to him.” He looks at me and then without moving his feet casually shoves me. I stumble back a step and trip over the boar. I feel something pierce my arm but stay silent as I untangle myself a little. 

Pig eyes looks at me wide eyed and concerned. “Are you okay, my bristles?”

I look down and realize multiple of them have broken off but thankfully not all punctured through my hoodie. I pull one out of the fabric carefully. The madman crouches and takes it. 

“Interesting.” He murmurs watching the drop of venom going down, he stabs the boar with it. Who winces in pain and looks confused. “Are you immune to your own venom?” The madman asks and then when nothing happens just nods, “Makes sense.” He brushes a hand through the quill like bristles and then pulls out a knife. I move my hands closer, hovering over the teen’s ears instinctively to protect them. He cuts a few of the bristles off from the base. Leaving to put them in one of his glass jars.

The boar grabs my arm weakly and panics, “Did one stab you?”

I nod not looking at him but at the madman. 

“Where?” He looks at where the others were sticking out of my hoodie and tries to lift it but I snap back to reality and scramble away from him. He looks at me like I’m unhinged.

“No.” I respond slowly, feeling where I got pricked tingle. He relaxes a little relieved. 

“What would happen if I stuck myself with one of these?” The psycho grins turning back and the teen sits up, glaring.

“You’d die.”

“No antidote huh?” He looks at me and I tense.

‘Wait what no he couldn’t be thinking…’ I back away as he approaches me. The teen tenses up and slowly says, 

“I’m not lying there isn’t any- he’ll die! I thought he was supposed to be your nephew!” 

The madman laughs, backing off me and going back to the boar.

Who yelps as the sociopath grabs him by an ear, “I know it’s your saliva already.” He looks at one of the bristles closely, “I just wanted to see if you’d lie to me.” I stay a little away and then realize what just happened. Uncle was proving to me that the teen doesn’t care if I live or die. That he would lie about there not being an antidote. I can't help but feel a little hurt.

I flinch away when the madman gets too close. “Yeah, yeah you made your point but I still think you want to stab me with one of those poisonous bristles.” 

“Well actually I still have one more point to make.” He tilts his head as I gasp blood springing from the slice mark across my chest. 

I hold the wound doubling over then suddenly pissed that he damaged my favorite hoodie exclaim, “Fuck you!” 

He grabs me and forces me a few steps then to kneel down in front of the teen. I tense remembering how his father responded to me bleeding. 

Playing with the bloody knife the sociopath circles us really slowly. I hold my chest feeling the burning sensation of pain. I wait for the pig to make a move knowing the madman would tranq him or actually probably kill him. I wait and wait and then I look up. I expected the expression his father made when I bit my tongue and blood dribbled down my chin, hungry and excited. 

The teen's expression is scared and sick. His eyes widen a little with concern. I sit back a little more and start to crawl backwards away from the teenager but the feeling of a knife pressing against my neck stops me. 

“I didn’t say you could move yet.” The madman tilts his head at the pig, watching his reaction as he presses the blade enough to bite and I make an mph of pain instinctively jerking away from the knife closer to the boar. I look at the teen again, eyes starting to blur. I'm scared. 

The teen pants and then exclaims, “How many times are you going to cut your nephew before you realize I’m not going to react like you think I am?” 

I feel the madman's hand against the back of my neck, ‘He’s going to shove me right into his face.’ I reach back struggling but neither of them know that I’m also starting to fight the effects of the poison. 

“I thought you said he was vegetarian.” The madman mocks, shaking me and I flinch guiltily looking at the teen, “You were getting along so well before, why are you scared of him now?”

“You’re crazy! If he does attack me you won’t be fast enough to stop him!” I dig my feet into the ground desperately scrambling but I feel myself getting pushed forwards.