Love With Limits

Chapter 5

It wasn't difficult at all to catch up with Karla. She must have stopped half way back because he found her laying back on a fancy park bench, head in hands, face up towards the ominous grey clouds that were gradually smudging the sky with dismal splodges of misery.

One of Karla's gloves was rolled up to her thumb revealing her full forearm. Robin, being the fool that he was, didn't notice this and sat on the edge of the bench to stroke her arms, trying and failing miserably at consoling her.

She hissed in pain when he touched her and winced back, holding her arm to her side. Her eyes were red and bloodshot as if she had been crying for hours even though she had only ran away less than ten minutes ago.

Karla quickly tugged down her gloves so that they covered her arms once more as she glared at Robin. He didn't get a chance to see what she was hiding but he had a good guess.

"Why?" he whispered, more to himself than her.

A lone tear rolled down her cheek and he wiped it away with his thumb. She smiled a little then looked back up at the sky.

"Cat... she was my sister... she..."

Her voice was so quiet that he hardly heard her but he heard enough.

"Do you want to talk about it or...?"

She sat up a little so that she could hug her knees to her chest and look him in the eyes. 

"No. I need to be gettin' back now before t'rain comes." She swung her legs down off the bench and prepared herself to stand but she was too weak. Her arms shook and gave way beneath her and she landed back on the seat with a thud.

"Hey, I've got you," he held her back and helped her up, "do you want me to walk you back home?"

Karla nodded her head then looked at the sky as the heavens opened up and rained down on her face.

"The good thing 'bout rain," she sang, "is that no-one can tell if you're cryin' or if your face is just wet." As she finished her sentence, she turned her head towards him and apologised for crying infront of him.

"I don't think tears make you weak or guilty, they just mean people have been strong for too long." Robin was quoting from a picture he saw on a social networking site and he hoped she hadn't noticed. 

"Where'd you get that one from? Quotes 'r' us?" Crap she'd noticed, "Come on let's get back before we drown."

Oh Karla, if only you knew how much I want to drown.