Twisted Mercy

As Gideon finished speaking, two streams of blood-tinged tears slowly trickled down Lyra's cloudy eyes.

Realizing she was crying, she became frantic, using her scarred hands to wipe her face haphazardly while muttering under her breath, "I don't cry, I'm not crying, don't hit me... please don't hit me..."

Gideon noticed something was wrong and quickly released his grip on Lyra's arm. "Hey, it's ok