The Bullied Boy, an Innocent Lie and the Girl He Can’t Touch: Short and Sweet Series, #38

By Luna Moon

"You have to go," she said. "Before she sees you. You can't be here."
"Okay," I said. "I'll go right now."

I walked towards the door and she said,

"No, go through here."

She opened the window and looked down below.

"Okay, she's not in sight anymore. You can go."

I climbed through the window to jump on the tree when she said,

"Wait."

I looked at her.

"Yeah?"

"Promise you'll come back," she said.

I studied her expression. It was as if she'd never seen a person before. The way she looked at me as if I was the most exciting yet odd thing she'd ever seen.

"Okay," I said then jumped from the window on the tree and climbed down quickly.

 

LOTTIE has craved another person's touch since she was a little girl. A disorder that makes her allergic to another anyone's touch has kept her locked in her parents' house for years. Now with her family moving she feels even more like her freedom is withering away.

 

ELI has been bullied his whole life for being different. More than anything he wishes he could fit in for once. But his bullies are only getting worse every year.

 

When Lottie and her family move to the new town, the town's children all start whispering hearsay about the new girl who no one has seen leave her house since they got there. Eli doesn't pay attention to the rumours much too busy worrying about hiding from his bullies. But when Eli gets forced by them to sneak into the house of the new neighbours and see the new girl for them in exchange for not being bullied anymore, he has no choice but to take the deal.

 

But the girl inside isn't what he expected to find and somehow he ends up making a promise to her. But once outside he remembers his bullies and decides to tell a lie that seems harmless. But the more he gets to know the girl the more his feelings for her grow. Until he wants nothing more than to keep her safe.

 

But his bullies didn't forget the lie.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Short and Sweet Publishing
• Release date: May 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201249250

Luna Moon

LUNA MOON is a writer (or professional chatter - because she cannot SHUT UP! - whichever one works for you) who writes Contemporary Romance Novellas and short stories. She loves coffee, her beautiful shiny cat and her two possibly insane dogs and reading all day long.

Book preview

Lottie

Touch.

It’s such a simple thing. So innocent yet full of promises. There are different types of touch. A touch can say more things than a single word.

It’s something we take for granted every day. Something we don’t think a second about.

How many times we hug people. Greet them.

A soft playful slap on the hand. Holding someone’s hand.

It’s something everyone does, right?

Wrong.

In all my life I’ve touched someone twice. The first was the very first doctor that delivered me. Straight after that I was put in intensive care. I’ve never even touched my mother.

Everything I’ve experienced in my life has been by sight, sounds, and taste.

My life was normal at first. Well as normal as you can have it. I played outside, I went to restaurants with my family, I even experienced snow.

And then the accident happened.

A new family had moved in next door when I was six years old. The little girl had sneaked through the fence boards to play with me. It went fine at first, we passed each other the ball and talked. And then she saw the bracelet on my arm.

Can I see that? She’d said.

My parents had taught me to always tell people not to touch me. I was going to tell her but she’d moved over to me so quickly and grabbed my arm.

And that was the second time I ever touched someone.

Needless to say after almost dying because of that touch, my family moved away and started a new life with me. I no longer went outside, I no longer saw snow.

Instead I was stuck in my house. They tried to make it as comfortable as possible for me. They build my room to be its only little apartment so I could feel like I had some space. And for a few years I did feel slightly normal. I didn’t remember too much how actual normal felt.

I was homeschooled since the first day I started school. I never knew how it felt to have classmates or be on a sports team or be part of a choir.

But I loved learning. I always learned as much stuff as I could. About different subjects. History. Science. Art. Literature.

And my favourite, Geography.

More than anything in my life I’ve always wanted to travel. I want to see the world. See every corner of it.

But I know I never will.

All because of this stupid disorder.

I’m allergic to human touch. I’m fine around surfaces that were touched by them, or items they’ve touched, even things they’ve warn.

It’s the actual touch. Skin on skin. That I’m allergic too.

It’s very strange to doctors.

They know about kids that are allergic to any germs in the air, or kids that are allergic to anything touched by other humans.

I on the other hand was a special case.

A rare disorder.

Doctors told my parents I’d be fine. I’d be able to grow up and have a normal life.

Except no touch.  

How could that ever be normal?

People touched you all the time. I’ve seen it in movies or on television. When they’re laughing they’d reach out, when they’re scared they’d grab on to you, even when someone was mad at you