Teddybear

She rolled her eyes, "We're behind closed doors, you can just call me Queenie," she said without thinking.

"Sounds like you're overstepping the bounds of our little arrangement," she retorted. He was getting too comfortable. All because she'd stopped snapping at him. Her mistake for being nice, then.

She rolled her eyes, "You know as well as I do that the 'lovestruck' act is the easiest one in the book. I'd better be able to take a day ...

Queenie expertly hid her relief at that. A little comfort to shoo the nightmare away. She gave a dismissive shrug, "I'm not going to fight you for it, love. If ...

Queenie smiled and gave the appropriate thanks and words of confirmation, "Oh, that's alright," "Thanks for this," and all that sugary nonsense that people without much to say spat out ...

Bobby shifted, a feeling of unease crawling up his spine with spider-like legs tipped in sharp claws. The urge to get out of here, out of sight, pulled at his ...

She nodded, giving him the small smile of a loving girlfriend. He was playing his part far better than she'd expected him to. If she wasn't in on the act, ...

Bobby would have bitten his lip if he had one. He didn't want to go home. He didn't want to stay here. He didn't know what he wanted. He gave ...

Queenie woke up far earlier than the rest of the house. The hard, stiff floor beneath her seemed to have passed those traits on to her limbs, and she had ...

The boy scowled at the man without the empathy to allow people to mourn their own lives. "Be silent," he said, "your words weren't wanted, and they serve no one." ...

Bobby didn't answer. This was all too much. Too strange. It felt like some kind of scene, all wrong in every little way. When the others came back, he found ...

The boy tilted his head at the final grave. There was a stone, but that must be the theatrics of this place. No one would bother cutting a gravestone only ...

Bobby stared, trying to figure out if he was being lied to. No one would lie about something so obvious, right? "Like...the game?"

Bobby shifted uncomfortably, looking down at his feet. He shrugged. His instincts were telling him to run and hide. They were always telling him that. But this person wasn't working ...

Bobby flinched. He didn't want to say how old he was. Nothing good ever came from people knowing that. He shook his head. "I'm...older than that," he lied, badly.