Fallen Angel

10. The Scream

Ethan quietly walked over to Aurora and put the umbrella over her head so the rain would stop soaking her hair. The girl got scared and hit him on the arm to get him to move away. He took her arm tenderly.

"Calm down, Aurora. It's me"

She looked at him and calmed down. She took the umbrella and they stayed silent for a few minutes, saying nothing. Ethan put on his hood. Only the rain spoke.

"I... read the letter." Ethan broke the silence.

"And you came here because you remembered what I told you about the carousel, right?" She smiled with a sigh. "You probably thought I would be crying. But no! I haven't shed a single tear." She smiled victoriously and decided to omit how the last three days had gone. Sitting in the dark of her apartment, doing nothing, just overthinking and crying silently. "You see, I'm braver than you think."

"Come on, Aurora. It's enough." The tone of voice was serious. Her smile disappeared. "If you want to cry, it's okay to cry. You don't have to force yourself to smile if you don't feel like it. You don't need to hide anything from me."

He hugged her so tightly that Aurora's umbrella fell from her hands and rolled on the wet ground.

"Leave me, Ethan!" Her voice broke as his aroma embraced her, a very pleasant mixture of rain, pines and roses. And then, she couldn't help it. All the tears came out at once as Ethan hugged her and she could feel his heart beating with her head resting on his chest. Then, she decided to be honest. "He also left me a voicemail on the answering machine. Hearing him speak after so long, something inside me stirred. I'm so afraid of being alone forever. The few times I hear from Caleb it's to tell me that he won't be coming and that he doesn't know anything about our parents. One day he will get totally tired of me. I'm a burden, for him."

"You are unfair, Aurora."

She lifted her head to meet his eyes, confused.

"Olivia hasn't slept for three days because she didn't know where else to look for you. Connie keeps asking about you. I've been the first to run out to see where you were. There are people who care about you and love you for who you are, we would never leave you alone. I already told you."

"But..."

"And besides," interrupted Ethan, "I'm sure your parents and your brother love you more than you think. Surely as soon as they can, they will come to see you. I think that you are very strong and that you are not a burden, on the contrary, you have managed as well as you could so as not to give them more work. It would be impossible not to love you, Aurora."

"Do you think... they still think about me?"

"Of course! Otherwise, Caleb wouldn't bother to send you the letters or leave voice messages. Don't turn your loneliness into an enemy; make her your friend while you wait for Caleb to come see you."

She nodded with a shy smile.

"Let's go home? Olivia will kill me if I come back without you," he winked at her.

"Yes, let's go home. I'm looking forward to seeing her. And... thank you."

During their way home, Aurora was holding Ethan's arm. The umbrella was not very big and they had to walk very close to each other, but that comforted them. Walking in the rain and the grey sky, Aurora thought that maybe it was true that she wasn't so alone.

Arriving at the block of flats, Olivia was still on the porch, waiting. When she saw her friend coming, she started to run towards her, and Aurora did the same, letting go of Ethan's arm.

"Aurora! Where have you been?!"

"I needed to get some air..." she said regretfully.

"How selfish you are! You leave without saying anything and leave us all worried!"