The Beneath
Copyright© 2025 by Heel
Chapter 6: Collapse
The man’s fury vanished as suddenly as it had come. His shoulders shook, his face twisting in grief, and then he broke — collapsing to his knees on the gravel path. A low, guttural sob escaped him, and then another, until he was weeping like a child, his hands clutching at the ground.
Stella froze. The wave of sorrow pouring from him was almost unbearable — deep, hollow grief that hollowed out her chest and echoed in her mind. The anger she had felt moments ago was gone. What was left was ruin.
Her eyes burned with tears. His pain was raw, unfiltered, and it filled her head until she could hardly breathe. “I ... I’m so sorry,” she whispered, her voice shaking. “I didn’t mean—” She stopped herself. There were no words that could possibly reach him.
She shifted carefully on her crutches, moving closer. The cast on her left leg felt impossibly heavy. But she couldn’t just stand there — not when he was breaking apart in front of her.
“Please,” she murmured softly, “don’t cry like that ... I never meant for this to happen.”
She leaned forward, trying to offer comfort, to touch his shoulder — to give him something human to hold on to. But the crutches wobbled beneath her arms. Her balance slipped.
In a heartbeat, everything went wrong.
The right crutch snagged on a stone. Her good leg twisted sharply beneath her as she fell, the full weight of her body pitching forward. There was a sickening snap — a sound she felt as much as heard — and pain ripped through her shin and ankle with blinding intensity.
She hit the ground hard, her palms scraping against the gravel, her casted leg slamming uselessly against the path. The shock of it stole her breath.
A scream tore from her throat before she could stop it. “Ah—! My leg!”
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