you could love me if i knew how to lie

Beat hadn't even been in his den the night before. He was often out wandering. If you were walking, you were harder to find. The emaciated boy was overly tired though and decided to come home for some much needed sleep. As he neared the hole that he and his brother had dug out for a den, He noticed the form of his aunt leaving a fat rabbit outside of the den. The boys brow furrowed. She shouldn't be so close to them. He began to walk away, but she turned towards him too quickly. "Aunt Twig?" He questioned her, unable to avoid it.

There was a lot that the child was unable to come to terms with. The death of his parents, his other aunt. Their ghosts plagued his mind. It had gotten so much worse after the strange woman on the plains had given him the mushrooms. Whatever had happened within his mind had opened a doorway. The faces of his dead family followed him now. He wasn't sure if they were hallucinations or real, but he could see them every time he shut his eyes and sometimes when his eyes were wide open. Thankfully, he couldn't see them now.

The boy waited for his aunt, though he wished she'd just leave. He didn't want her to catch the curse and die like the rest. It was his fault that they were dead, after all. Everyone close to him died except for his brother, but only because he was cursed too. He stood there, waiting for Twig to say something. Head lowered, eyes glassy, hips and elbows sticking out like bare bones. Hopefully whatever she had to say would be quick. The less time she was around him, the less time the curse had to take hold.