Estranged

43

The air smelt like life, like the colour green, like the touch of sun, like a full moon, like the floating stardust, the air smelt like life. Midnight smiled down on them. "Loser!!!!!!" Aurora's voice laughed as she ran up the small hill, her blood stained hill. A paranoid Danny ran after her as they got on top.
"Slow the fuck down" he breathed as she sheepishly grinned at him. She turned back to look at the night sky, in front of her laid a thousand stars, it looked like little rays of light escaping through those little spaces of a woven cloth, she sat down on the rocky hill, she smiled. Everything looked so new, she always considered herself to be a pretty observant person but the night showed her life like she have never known before, like this was her first life. The stars looked very fascinating, the cool air that softly brushed past her hair didn't hold the usual shrilling loneliness but rather it hugged her into its arms. She sat there without a single worry of the world, an earthquake could come for all she cared. She felt him sit down beside her, their fingers lightly touching each other, she took a silent breath as another wave of wind rolled around her, she smiled.

"What's next?" He asked as they laid on the hill, looking up at the night.
"I have no idea" she said as he let out a small laugh.
"laughing at my existential crisis, I see" she sighed. Danny turned his head to the side, now looking at the side of her face.
"why don't you come and live with me?" he proposed.
"you know I can't do that" she shook her head slightly.
"why not?" he asked in an icy tone, his warm demure turning into one that was of cold.
"Because you are a martix and I am a heavens. By now,Xavier's death would have made a commotion and on top of that if I get out to start living with you. Stuff will get messy" she tried to explain.
"we can move to Italy" he sighed and looked up to the sky again.
"what about your house in here?" she asked, he laughed
"David and Raheel set that one on fire last night" he shrugged as Aurora sat up "the what?!" she laughed.
"assassination attempt from your uncle or some shit, I wasn't home last night" he sat up as well.
"I was too distracted with tonight's deal, damn it I forgot to check what he was up to" she said in frustration
"trust me they wanted to burn up that place for a long time now, so don't worry" he laughed as he sat up and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
"by the way how's your shoulder?" he asked
"fucked up" she said with a smile
"that's good-- wait what?" he suddenly drew his hand back from her shoulder as she chuckled, placing his hand back to where it was on her shoulder.
"you okay?" he asked in a much serious tone as she nodded smiling.
"what if I get shot again?" she asked as she looked around the same hill that she got shot at last time.
"you'll die" he shrugged
"and you'll cry" she laughed
" i don't think so" he chuckled
Aurora imitated a deep voice " Hoo Aurora hold on, we are here" she laughed remembering the memory as he sighed in annoyance beside her.
"You are lucky that it was me with you last time, if it was Raheel she wouldn't even spare a second to save your shot ass" he said
"I really want to talk to her more" she said as he laughed.
"As long as you are not David, she won't give two fucks on what you are talking" he laughed as she shook her head.
"how long have they been together?" she asked
"who? David and Raheel?" he asked as she nodded
"Raheel is the daughter of our mom's best friend, so we knew her since forever. After her parents died, when we were in middle school, David became just too over protective of her and then one led to the other and boom, they are in love" he laughed.
"So have they ever dated someone else other than each other?" she asked as Danny laughed again
"dude you don't understand, Raheel will break David's back and tie him down with a rock if she ever see him with anyone else. Jealous ass" Danny shook his head.
"imagine spending most of your years with the same person. Can't relate" she laughed as Danny gave her a gentle smile.
"what about you? any previous relationships?" Danny asked
"yup!" she said suddenly looking at him.
"she was my first kiss" Aurora said with a chuckle
"damnnn" Danny chuckled
"truth for a truth?" she asked, opening her eyes to see him smiling.
"hmm" he hummed
"you first" she said as she remained laying on the ground.
"I am 11 minutes younger than David" he said as she let out a chuckle.
"her name was Zeynah" she said as he smiled understandingly waiting for her to continue.
"man, wasn't she beautiful" she sighed,
"how did you guys meet?" Danny asked gently. A softly wind brew past them, brushing her hair to the side.
"I was about thirteen when I first met her" Aurora smiled, her smile reached her eyes.
"She was the daughter of one of our maids, so she was around most of the time. The crush I had on her was just insane" she laughed slightly. She turned her head to the side to look at him.
"tell me more about her" he said as he laid down next to her, looking up at the stars.
"hmm...you sadist asshole" she laughed as he chuckled.
"you don't have to tell me" he reassured
"I want to" she said as he listened.
"boy, she was really something else" she laughed at the memory
"she was the one that made the first move, one hell of a women. I asked her to be my girlfriend at fifteen" she beamed
"fifteen?" Danny asked with a small smile
"my game with girls are top tier loser" she said as he laughed.
"did she say yes?" he asked
"nobody can resist this" she said running a finger through her jaw as he smirked
"I bet" he muttered under his breath
"Anyway, she snuck me out of our house and took me on a date. That was our first date! this may sound too cliché but I kissed her on the ferris wheel and it fucking rained, we had to break away" she cursed the rain as Danny laughed.
"damn was that your first kiss?" he asked with curiosity.
"yeah" she muttered
"and rain ruined it?" he asked again trying hard not to laugh.
"....yeah" she said in annoyance as he laughed
"don't laugh idiot! it seemed to be the perfect timing to my fifteen year old self, you know considering the ferris wheel and all" she shrugged
"i am gonna use this rain card on you forever" he laughed as she let out a sigh shaking her head with a smile.
" By the way, where she is now?" he asked with a smile, his laugh slowly dying down.
"dead" she deadpanned as he just stared at her for a good minute.
"what happened?" he asked,
"I killed her" she said laying back down closing her eyes.
'She remembered that girl with big brown eyes, her curly long hair, her laugh, her soft skin, her lips, her hands that always held a strange warmth, her stupid jokes. Memories. Aurora remembered the night, when her hands were shaking, holding up that heavy gun. Tears like never before streaming down her face as her uncle's hands wrapped around her arm that was holding the gun. It rained furiously that night.
Danny remained silent until she spoke up again.
"I miss her" Aurora whispered , opening her eyes again to look at Danny.
"I had a fight with my uncle that day" she casually started talking as Danny quietly listened.
"he was furious when he found out about me and her, as usual he made a whole scene about that and my anger issues didn't help" she let out a humourless chuckle
"I wouldn't have talked back if he was talking shit about me but he went over and talked about her. I just couldn't handle the rage, I blurted out things I haven't ever told him, I told him that I knew he was the one that killed my parents. And unlike other times, he stayed quiet throughout my outburst that it lowkey surprised me" she said with a sarcastic laugh.
"then I slammed his office door shut and walked to my room. I swear to god, I knew something was off, the way he was so calm scared the shit out of me. It was raining like crazy that day, you know with thunderstorms and shit" she paused and sat up and Danny did the same.
"the rain was just so fucking loud that I didn't hear anything" she looked into his eyes with so much vulnerability that it broke him then and there.
"I went to sleep early, sleeping when its raining is heaven" she tried to laugh off the knot that began to build at her throat.
"in the middle of the night, someone dragged me out of my room holding my wrist very tightly. The hallway was so dark and it was raining, so my fifteen year old self started planing a funeral" she chuckled and he intently listening to her every word.
"Being dragged into the basement in the middle of the night is definitely not something I'd recommend" she said as he gave her a gently smile, she cleared her throat and continued.
"It was so dark and I knew it was Xavier when a heavy mental was placed on my hand. Then next thing I hear is back to back shrilling noise of bullets and a scream, that voice was very familiar but I have never heard the kind of a scream before. I tried looking around but the room was just too fucking dark and there was a gun in my hand, everything made me so fucking confused. That motherfucker was the one that forced my hand to pull the trigger, I was just too scared to even realise that until the shots rang at some random point that he aimed at with my hand" she started talking frantically, her words starting to overlap each other as her frustration took over the control.
"he was the one aiming not me" she whispered looking into Danny's eyes, something in her trying so hard to convince him the truth,the Sam one that she has been trying to convince herself with every passing second. But she soon collected herself up and went back to her usual calm.
"have you heard someone scream in the dark Danny?" she asked as he shook his head.
"trust me honey its not that great" she let out a chuckle as he smiled.
"Long story short, uncle locked me up in the basement for the next few hours and that fucker didn't even have the decency to turn on the damn light" she casually shrugged as Danny's eyes widened at the probability of her being locked up in a room with a dead person.
"After some hours, he turns on the light and dragged me out but I saw her" her calm demure broke at this, she could feel the ice seeping into her veins at the memory.
"Zeynah had the best eyes. You know something Dan, we used to have a lot of arguments and shit but even when she was mad, her eyes" Aurora trailed off.
"her eyes were always alive" she muttered clenching her jaw.
"But when I saw her after the light flicked on that day, she looked so....." she shrugged. She tried so hard to not remember how icy those dead eyes looked,how unfamiliar a love looked.
"A part me always knew he wouldn't let go of a fight that easily but I never thought..... you know, I never thought he'd make me do it. For gods sake if I knew this would happen, I wouldn't even have tried to be with her in the first place" she blinked away the uneasiness that rose in her.
"you know its not your fault, right?" Danny gently spoke as she shook her head.
"I know its not my fault but the fact that the trigger was pulled by me will never change" her voice struggled against the sting in her throat.
"I will never get over the fact that she died because she loved me just like my parents, just like Nathan, just like anyone who dared to show me mercy" her voice turned into one of rage as her arms clenched, she couldn't believe that she was finally voicing out one of her biggest insecurities, she was angry at herself for being this weak . But her rage soon faded as Danny pulled her into his arms, she held onto him tightly.
" I don't care dying because of loving you" he said as he pulled back, looking into her eyes. She could swear at that moment the world stopped for a second around her.
"And on top of that I can kill you first if that solves the problem" he finished. She laughed but her eyes shone, a rim of tear holding stars.
"so cliché Mr. Daniel Hale" she chuckled shaking her head
"don't fucking use that name" he warned
"which name? Daniel Hale?" she asked innocently
"lord have mercy" he muttered lowly as she laughed.