09-02-2019, 08:30 PM
[align=center][div style="width: 51%; text-align: justify; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -1px; font-family: georgia;"]It wasn’t that Selby couldn’t hear Wormwood’s reassurances, it was more that they didn’t quite make sense to him. How could this not be his fault? His body heaved with a heavy sob that he just barely managed to quiet. He had made a scene. It was his fault that Leroy was upset with Wormwood. His fault that Wormwood was upset with Leroy.
A new voice broke through to him, and he looked up from his pebble to see Perseus. He had been there when they had discovered Pastel’s body, Selby recalled. He hadn’t said much, but he had sat with him from a respectable distance. The small act had meant a lot in the chaos of the moment, and Selby would never forget that.
Then the blind dog came over to approach him, and the hound’s head came to rest on his neck. Selby froze, his breath hitching, then went boneless against the touch and sank into it, quietly weeping into the shoulder offered to him. It was hard to stop once he started, and his quiet sobs racked his body harder and harder. He barely noticed as Perseus gestured over his shoulder to Leroy and Wormwood, so absorbed in his own sadness.
A new voice broke through to him, and he looked up from his pebble to see Perseus. He had been there when they had discovered Pastel’s body, Selby recalled. He hadn’t said much, but he had sat with him from a respectable distance. The small act had meant a lot in the chaos of the moment, and Selby would never forget that.
Then the blind dog came over to approach him, and the hound’s head came to rest on his neck. Selby froze, his breath hitching, then went boneless against the touch and sank into it, quietly weeping into the shoulder offered to him. It was hard to stop once he started, and his quiet sobs racked his body harder and harder. He barely noticed as Perseus gestured over his shoulder to Leroy and Wormwood, so absorbed in his own sadness.