Simon Speaks First

The air was so thick with tension that you could cut it with a knife. Which Simon thought was weird because air wasn't thick enough to be visible and emotions even less so...

Simon rubbed his hand against the maroon open button shirt at his shoulder and started descending. Jessica's eyes remained on him, though she took one tentative step back in apprehension as he got closer and closer. As he reached the bottom step her resolve faltered and she looked down at her feet as he got a better look at her.

Her make-up had become a mess, her hair a bit frayed, grass stains on her legs, and blood on her top and hands.

Simon tried to read her body language, as well. Her head was turned downwards, her shoulders tight and shrunk into her, her legs crossed, her feet together and trembling. He noticed her hands clinging to the small box that he recognized with the paper Sam helped him pick out...

The first words out of his mouth were simple,

"Are you okay?"

Jessica's head swiveled back to look up at him, her mouth curled downward, eyes widened in surprise, trembling as she repeated the question in a tone he didn't immediately recognize.

"Am I okay?"

She stared at him in disbelief, then almost in anger, as if ready to pounce on him. He felt a jolt of something going down his spine, but it didn't remove his concern for her.

Jessica stared at him for several seconds, her mouth open, mind racing. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting from her friend's weird little brother's new power... But it hadn't been this...

In defeat Jessica slumped herself against the wall, glancing in the direction Sam went, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fanfuckingtastic Master. Best Birthday Ever."

She sighed and rolled her eyes as he frowned, biting her tongue again as she.called him Master without any control over it.

Simon hated sarcasm when it was directed at him, and Jessica was a Mistress of wielding it over him ever since they started high school. Sam had to remind her any time it got him into trouble and Kevin always got angry with her when he fell for it.

This time though, he blurted something out to ensure it would never happen again,

"I wish you wouldn't lie to me anymore..."

Jessica gasped suddenly, her knees buckling as he grabbed her shoulders to keep her upright. He didn't know what was happening, but she was biting down on her lower lip as her legs crossed and rubbed against each other, her neck pulling her head backward as she let out a gasp, a moan, and a pant in that order.

"Are you sure you're..."

"I'm scared."

He froze in place as he stood over her, his 6'3 frame dominating her smaller one as he felt her body trembling in his arms. Jessica swallowed, eyes wide, she hadn't meant to say that... She was trying to keep her voice down, it was a tone Simon hadn't ever heard from her before... she was always so self-assured and confident.

Instead, now, for the first time Simon heard Jessica speak when she was ****, looking back at him as she held the box in her right hand and moved to hug herself with both her arms covering her chest.

"I'm scared. I don't know why this is happening to me. I just wanted a normal party, for my birthday to be special. Now I'm a fucking genie and anytime you make a wish I feel like I'm going to explode. I don't know why it feels so good. Why are you doing this to me, Master? What are you going to do to me?"

Simon felt his stomach drop as she continued to babble out everything at once in a near whisper-quiet voice. She was terrified of him, and trying to process the changes she was going through. It felt like it was all his fault for doing this to her, but somehow he felt more resolute in the face of it. If anything, a crisis just put things more into perspective.

He was nervous about what he was doing in that moment, but it felt like his body was just moving on its own.

It caught them both off guard when his hand cupped the left side of her face, wiping the tears away from her cheek, "It'll be okay."

Her eyes shot up like darts, her guard returning and a certain fire of defiance mixed with pure bitterness at the thought that any of this could possibly be okay.

"How?" she hissed out, "How can any of this be okay?"

"I'll protect you."

Jessica let out a scoff in disbelief as the idea entered her mind, looking at him like he had lost his mind.

She didn't believe him, but that didn't really matter. What was new though was the redness in her cheeks when she looked back up at him. He was starting to feel warm as well. He meant it of course, lying wasn't really part of his nature. Plus, he was just bad at it. He had struggled with words all his life and he knew he'd lock up again at some point.

Jessica said nothing for several agonising moments, suppressing a quiet sob.

Not human...

The sound of movement in the kitchen snapped her back to reality and she began to pout and looked up like a worried puppy dog, "Master, please don't tell Sam..."

He blinked as he looked back towards the kitchen, he could hear her from the other room talking. Probably discussing something over the phone with someone. His vision was interrupted as a slender hand reached out and pulled him back to looking down at the blonde again, her chest jutting outward as she leaned forward with the same worry.

"I know you can't stop yourself from saying stuff. You're going to tell her, I know it. Just please, please Master... Just..."

Jessica's mouth flapped for a moment, she had wanted to ask him for the ring back, but it was like the words got caught in her throat.

"I wish nothing could take this ring from me"... Oh no...

Simon gulped as he heard footsteps behind him and quickly pulled away from Jessica as the pair straightened themselves up. Sam groaned and shook her head as she approached them, swooshing her red ponytail with a flick, then glared at them both with enough intensity to make both of them flinch.

"Couch. Now."