SPIDERWEB

Matheio paused his tantrum immediately and slowly relaxed into Julian"s arms.

"Okie mommy…" Matheio gave in, "I"ll go to bed.."

"Good boy," Gradis grinned. She turned to Julian, "let"s take him in, shall we?"

"Hmm," Julian agreed.

He grabbed the phone and lifted Matheio onto one hand, making sure not to obstruct Gradis" view as he walked out his home-office. They were about a third of the way there when Gradis decided to lead the conversation again.

"So how was your day Matte?" Gradis asked, smiling brightly, "I"m guessing it must have been much more entertaining than mine, seeing how energetic you are after it."

"It was good! I face-timed my teacher for school, played wi-" Matheio began before turning his head to Gradis at an abnormal speed, "Matte?"

Gradis stared back at Matheio blankly, taking a moment to realize what his question was referring to.

"Ah... it"s a name I came up with on the spot," Gradis chuckled nervously, looking away from Matheio briefly. "I overstepped my boundaries…" she thought to herself, "sorry if you don"t like it, I can always ch"

"I GOT A NICKNAMEEE," Matheio shrieked, thrashing in Julian"s hold happily.

"Huh?" Gradis muttered, taken aback by Matheio"s sudden burst.

"MOMMY GAVE ME A NICKNAMEEE!!!!" Matheio giggled proudly.

"MATHEIO STOP MOVING AROUND TOO MUCH!" Julain scolded, "I might drop-"

"I"M SO HAPPY!!!" Matheio screamed happily. He raised his hand up into the air, fit-b.u.mping the air, but also with enough force that he lost balance on Julian"s arm. "Huh?"

Matheio slowly slid off Julian"s arm, his eyes frozen in a mix of happiness, confusion, and fear as locked eyes with Julian at that moment, pleading for help. The world seemed to slow to a stop as his body froze, every voice in his head screaming for him to grab something and save himself but his hand refused to move. He locked eyes with Julian, the confusion and fear in his father"s eyes reflected the fear wrapped around Matheio"s body in a tight hug, paralyzing him. When he finally got enough power to lift his fingers and possibly save himself, he fell into more despair as his delicate fingers brushed against Julian"s sleeve, missing the chance to grab them.

"MATTE!!!" Gradis screamed, shaking in fear as she watched Matheio fall off. Her heart dropped to the floor as the image of his smacking his head against the marble floor sent her mind into buzzes of anxiety.

The feeling of helplessness washed over her as she realized the distance between them could also be the difference between life and death. She couldn"t do anything but watch as Matheio continued to fall, everything playing slowly in her mind so the fear and anxiety could properly sink in.

"NO!! MATHE-"

SWISH

Julian caught Matheio before he hit the ground, safely pulling him back up.

"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!" Julain scolded, flicking Matheio on the forehead, "I HAVE NO RAILINGS ON MY ARM SO BE CAREFUL!!"

Julian"s hands trembled as they tightly gripped Matheio"s tiny shoulders, "THAT WAS REALLY DANGEROUS! YOU- you could have left me…" Julian stuttered, choking up slightly as the scene repeated in his mind.

The fear was so clear in the hazel gems in Matheio"s eyes and he had almost given in to the fear too. Julian pulled Matheio close, holding him tightly in his arms. "Never," He muttered weakly as he rested his head on Matheio"s shoulders, "NEVER do that again."

Matheio trembled. The feeling of lightness and having nothing above and below except the approaching doom of meeting the hard floor with his skull was terrifying, paralyzing even. It was not something he would like to remember but wouldn"t be something he would forget. He had only felt this emotion twice in his short time alive, but he knew it wasn"t something he wanted to feel again.

"Hmm," he muttered in reply, wrapping his hands around Julian.

Julian slowly patted Matheio on his back to soothe him. "Thank G.o.d you"re ok… that"s all that matters," he sighed, "that and you NEVER doing that again."

Matheio didn"t a mutter a reply back as he simply laid in Julian"s arms, but it was enough of an answer that Julian needed.

"Honestly… you really keep me on my toes…" Julian chuckled with a sigh, nuzzling his head against Matheio"s, "that was probably one of the scariest moments in my life, if not the most. Right, Gradis?"

Julian turned to Gradis, "Gradis?"

Gradis stared back at Julian, their eyes meeting but not really seeing each other. She was still stuck in the moment, shivers running up her spine and terror suffocating her slightly. She wasn"t ok with this. She wasn"t ok with this distance. She needed to be there and wasn"t ok with just watching anymore. The burden of knowing something might happen to someone and having the chance to prevent it but not being able to just because of distance was horrifying and she hated the thought of it.

But that was overstepping her boundaries. There were boundaries she made for herself, for reasons that she had to adhere to and coming any closer to them would be overstepping. Again. But once again… she couldn"t help herself.

"Yea… that was horrifying Matte," Gradis sighed, "I was really scared… I thought.."

Gradis could see the slight trembling coming from Matheio"s body through Julian"s phone. She wanted to be there to… to hug him too, to rea.s.sure him with Julian and tell him everything was ok while having him in her embrace. Her hand twitched and her heart throbbed. "This hurts," she whispered in her mind.

"But.. Don"t be scared. It"s over now," Gradis smiled, "I"m here with Julian and you"re here with us and that"s what matters. I"m glad you"re safe."

This was getting dangerous and real quickly as she danced along the line of her boundary but maybe it was ok for her to cross over this time. It felt right.