First Fault

The sky cried for her on the night that I lost her. It knew too that things would never be the same...

~♡~

I was there the day her heart shattered. She came to me. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't gather every shard of her broken heart. I could only gather her in my arms and rock her shaking body as she held on to me like I was her lifeline, the only person she had left. I was, though. So she held on that rainy night, scared if she just loosened her grip, I'd slip away like everything else in her world...

We were both too young for this. I was all but fifteen, comforting a thirteen-year-old because she had no one else.

"They took her." She mumbles into my chest, snot tears and rain soaking me wet. Her voice sounded so small and fragile. At that moment, she was so vulnerable. I was worried that if I didn't hold her, she would fall apart right here outside my house drenched in the downpour. I knew what she was saying, but I didn't quite understand the depth of this moment until I had to do this again years later. A child robbed of her mother...

"Let's get you inside." It was all I could say. I was fifteen; she was mature for her age. She'd probably know what to say. She was forced to grow up before her time.

"No." She pushed out of my grasp. The raindrops and her tears were competing to see who could roll down her cheeks the fastest. I was worried, scared even.

"Let's get you dry and safe. Mum can call your Dad." I shouldn't have said that. How could I have known, though? I was just thinking my thirteen-year-old best friend caught a bus in the middle of the night alone in an attempt to run away from home. I was sure Mr Andrews was worried sick. I was, and I knew her whereabouts. She retracted from me like I'd thrown a bucket of ice over her. She looked scared and took cautious steps away from me. I should've grabbed her that night and pulled her into the house by force. But I didn't...I should've run after her. I didn't. Instead, I ran into the house drenched and yelled for Mum. By then, she'd disappeared in the downpour, swallowed whole by the darkness of the night.

"Zuri!" My voice was drowned out by the sound of the harsh "Pitter-patter" of the sky crying. It, too, mourned for her that night. I think we all did...

"Get inside, Kal!" My mother yelled and pulled me by my shoulders into the house. I stoop in a puddle at the doorstep reluctant to move. I couldn't leave her out there all alone. That's when I burst into a bolt, yanked open the door, and ran through the dark downpour, screaming my lungs out. She was gone. I knew it but I ran. I had to try.

"Kalem!" My older brother Carter caught up with me. He threw his arms around me the way I should've done with her. I sank to the ground, shaking with fear for her. "We have to find her." I choked out my throat raw from my screams and from the cold that was seeping into my system. My brother held onto me, tighter sure of not letting me go no matter how hard I kicked and screamed. That night, I think we both lost a little of our childhood. That night, we were forced to grow up her more, of course.

"I've got him." I was weak and tired, so I didn't protest when Dad threw me over his shoulder and jogged us back home. Mum ran me a hot bath. I'm unsure how I ended up in the tub or later how I was in the warmth of my pyjamas. Still, I was cold inside and out. No matter how many times Mum reassured me, the police were looking for her. I wasn't consoled because I knew they'd not find her, at least not the person she was before that night...