HEARTLESS KISSERS

Five

*Several years ago...*

The seven year old girl stepped out of the door and walked evenly towards the spacious garden where memories of her family came flashing by. She halted on a clear spot and stared at nothing in particular, long hair being blown across her pale face. The weather is so good and relaxing yet she can't feel even a tiny bit of comfort on it. Her mind was still so messy because of the past events that occured which created a big alteration on her life.

It has been only months when she, her mother and her father met a tragic accident. It was all so sudden and unexpected. She couldn't recall how or what exactly happened. She was bleeding and her head was hurting, her ribs were broken and she couldn't make a single move. There were shattered glasses everywhere and the almost too similar state of her parents' bodies were lying before her eyes. She tried to reach for them but failed, no energy on her limpy body and consciousness slowly drifting away. The last thing she heard before seeing all black was the scream of people from the outside and a faint call from her mother.

When she woke up, she could see white walls and medical apparatuses. She wanted to stand and look for her parents but there were three things that prevented her from doing so. First, her body was in pain, there's an extreme throbbing on her head and her limbs felt so helpless. Second, the needles were securely pierced through her skin and the thin tubes were almost binding her. Third, her grandmother was sitting on the chair beside her bed, watching her firmly with no emotions on her strict face. She closed her eyes and stayed still.

After weeks of recovery, she was finally granted the news she's been dying to hear for ages. Apparently, both her parents did not make it and the internment was done a long time ago, without her even knowing. She wailed, weeped, and sobbed as she gripped the sheets of her hospital bed, dreading on the fact that she hadn't had the opportunity to see them for the last time.

She refused to calm down from her fit until her grandmother spoke to her. "Krizza, you're a smart and strong kid. You can hate me for what I did but you can't deny my reasons. You know all too well how to handle yourself so stop fussing over it." She had said sternly, fierce eyes locked to her own, signifying that it's the most she could get as a way of comforting her.

And then, right then and there, it hit her hard in the guts.

-

Krizza sat on the grass bed disregarding the fact that she might get scolded because of the dirty mud that clings to her white dress. But who would scold her? She braced herself and insistently tried to seal her emotions and keep her tears, yet she couldn't do it. She still is a child after all.

A midst her lamentation, she heard sets of footsteps approaching her quiet corner. She suspected them to be of her three childhood friends', only confirming her speculations when they neared her. The four of them grew up together. Family connections aside, they formed a bond that clearly supports each and every one of them in more ways than one. The eldest and the second youngest are siblings while the second eldest and Krizza--the youngest--are cousins.

"Krizza." The eldest peered and called for her. All three wore the same expressions, full of concern and protectiveness over their pitiful little friend. She could feel on their voices how worried they were but the pain she bears is so overwhelming that it blocks any other emotions.

"Don't cry." The words came out as an half-hearted coaxing. Not crying is hard, Krizza just prove that, but she didn't bother on countering their attempted ways of comfort.

"I don't have a family anymore." She had said as tears welled up on her flushed cheeks yet again.

The three boys got alarmed. Krizza lost her parents, she lost her family. Even so, those horrible words aren't quite right and acceptable. She has a family. She has them. They are there for her. They may only be close to her age but they can take care of her. They would.