Marked

The scrape across his knuckles had still been leaking red when I offered him the box of novelty bandages, desperate to coax something soft out of his face. Thirteen-year-old me had believed the stray cat loved him just because it didn't claw his skin off, but the moment I reached for his hand, he shoved me away and claimed it was nothing.

I jerked awake with a ragged inhale, the old memory shatte