500 words.
#####Only once before had she seen someone who was so fearful of what was happening right then, and it brought back painful memories for the cream-colored woman to see the fear gripping Cambria. The last time that she had seen anyone so scared had been her lovely Pippa’s face, the face of the sweetest and most tender angel, and it had been on the day of her death. Her thoughts turned back to that day as Cambria retold what had just spooked her so much, the rage that had encrypted her brother’s snarl as he attacked her so very vivid in her mind. Instead of imaging some faceless man moving towards Cambria menacingly, Lolita only saw her awful brother advancing on the chocolate-colored girl, and her arms tightened around her instinctively when Cambria held her out of fear. Though she did not know the girl’s name, and knew nothing about her, she already cared for this girl so much. In her mind’s eye, she was holding a terrified Pippa, wanting to protect her from the evils of the world.
#####“Your heart’s beating very fast,” she said softly, feeling it against her own chest before lowering her slender hand to touch the girl’s chest, almost savoring the feeling of the girl’s heart beating. Physically, her own heart did beat, just as anyone else’s did, but she was never able to realize it. It had been so long since she had been with anyone to feel the steady thumping of their heart. A small bit of pressure applied to the younger girl’s chest as Lolita closed her eyes, resting her head on top of Cambria’s. She did not know how to make the girl feel better, but she so desperately wanted to. There was a connection there now, after she had associated the scared girl with her beloved sister. Her unoccupied arm dropped to the small of the girl’s back, sitting just above the curve of her butt as Lolita held her closer, hand still resting on the girl’s heart and breast. The way that she had always comforted Pippa came to mind, but she did not know if this was the time and place. Lolita needed reassurance before she could continue.
#####She would never hurt the girl, simply based on her timid nature. No one had ever pulled at her heart strings as much as her sister had, so passionate and fearful, but this girl was a painful and close reminder of those feelings. “You do not need to worry about me hurting you,” she said knowingly, hoping against hope that Cambria would not be afraid of her. “I would never hurt you.” She could not say the same for everyone else, but even if something happened and she and this girl did not end up getting along—or worse—Lolita knew she could never speak ill of this young girl, could never harm her. Cambria had reminded her too much of Pippa, and now that would never leave her mind.
[/html]