Heartbeat ~ a tribute

3.

I should've told her to run faster as her feet slammed across the road. Faster. Move faster. But I couldn't take my eyes off her because she crushed the air out of my lungs. Not in the way your heart skips, and not in the way you see someone you like, no, the large fist of horror that presses down on you, making it hard to breathe. Because nobody was safe from the darkness. The monster. I knew he made Kat sad, but never imagined the possibility of physical marks atop her skin. Everywhere I looked, I could only see something oddly deformed about the girl, and she was much smaller than she seemed across the fence. It was only her face that could bring back the person I knew.

And still she was lovely. A lovely flower, just slightly wilted. I laugh to myself, imagining her face if she heard me compare her to a flower.

And still, I should've said something sooner. Because you can outrun monsters, in every movie you'll find about them. They outrun the monster just in time. Real life isn't so forgiving, because sometimes, the monsters win. Too often for my liking. Her brother came out of nowhere that night, drunk, swinging his glass bottle about. And he caught her before she could even get near the station.

I wish I could forget what happened after that. I wish it could slip my mind. Unfortunately, memories don't work that way, but I can spare my fingers not to write the detail I remember. Perhaps that night, I was the savior. I'm not sure my father would approve of how I used my knife he gave me, and I wouldn't tell him if he already didn't know, departed a while ago. I'm not sure he'd approve of me threatening to cut anyone who touched Kat again. I'm not sure if he'd approve of me swinging it at her brother to prove my point. But God rest his soul, he'd be proud that I saved her from death that night. I warded it off. But I couldn't save her from the monster stuck on her side of the fence. He took her that night, and did those things that Kat wouldn't tell God if he didn't already know. It was a while before I saw her across the fence, and a longer while before I saw her smile from across the fence.

All monsters can be slayed or avoided.

And the monster lost. Not for the right thing. He lost for those drugs he was storing and selling, and he was locked away. At some point, he looked just like Kat described him, but I suppose he looked like a man enough to fool the jury. She was safe. I warded off death for her. I could be the umbrella.

If only I could keep her safe from death forever

♡♡♡