His eyes go wide for a moment, searching, scrambling, and then --
The duck. He forgot the duck.
"Three times," he says, holding the correction in his mouth like marbles, twisting it, feeling it with his tongue. He stretches out his fingers. Inside his fallible skin, his muscles slip and pull like gears. He was so hungry, when the duck attacked Howard. His ribs were broken. His ankle was bruised the color of plums.
When Aunamee gestures to the knife at his feet, there is a brief, unnecessary jerk to his arm. An overcorrection. An excess of energy.
(Fear of crumbling memories, a crumbling body.)
"Take it from me," he says. There is no attempt to mask the challenge. The words ripple up from his throat. "Or ask nicely."
no subject
The duck. He forgot the duck.
"Three times," he says, holding the correction in his mouth like marbles, twisting it, feeling it with his tongue. He stretches out his fingers. Inside his fallible skin, his muscles slip and pull like gears. He was so hungry, when the duck attacked Howard. His ribs were broken. His ankle was bruised the color of plums.
When Aunamee gestures to the knife at his feet, there is a brief, unnecessary jerk to his arm. An overcorrection. An excess of energy.
(Fear of crumbling memories, a crumbling body.)
"Take it from me," he says. There is no attempt to mask the challenge. The words ripple up from his throat. "Or ask nicely."