"Akala ko ba you're taking me home?" I murmured as I got of the bike.
She'd bought me to the clearing.
Our clearing.
"Mamaya." She responded as she sat down on the grass.
I hesitated for a moment before going over and sitting down beside her, for a few minutes we sat in complete silence.
Max closed her eyes and leaned her head back, my eyes trailed along the few strands of her midnight black hair falling over her eyes, her long lashes brushed her high cheek-bones. She was still painfully beautiful.
A beautiful catastrophe.
"Bakit ka nag, uhm, you know." I whispered.
She didn't look at me but I knew that she had heard me, she didn't answer me.
"Kumikita ka ba d'yan?" I asked.
This time she chuckled. "Yep, I get money, lot of it, but if it makes you feel any better that's not why I do it."
"Then bakit? Mapahamak ka pa sa pinag-gagawa mong 'yan!" I could feel my temper rising.
Her features softened as her knuckles brushed against my jaw softly.
"Bakit?" I asked again, my voice was quieter this time.
She sighed and turned to look at me, the hollow look in her eyes made my chest tighten.
"It's the only way I can still feel alive, Athena." Her voice was empty.
I swallowed, I could feel the lump growing in my throat, I didn't know what to say to her, I couldn't say anything.
I focused on something else.
"Anong meaning n'yan?" I asked pointing towards the bold black letters tattooed across her wrist.
"Ho ottenuto ciò che ho dato." I read the words out loud.
Max looked at me intently for a while, "It means: I got what I gave." She finally responded.
My eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, "Ha?''
Her eyes were still locked on me, "Hindi kumpleto yan, look at the whole thing, it'll make sense."
She bought up her other hand and I noticed a single word tattooed in the same font on her other wrist.
'Dolore'
I already knew what that word meant;
Pain.
She placed both her wrists together so that the tattoo formed a single sentence; 'Ho ottenuto ciò che ho dato dolore.'
"I got what I gave; pain"
YOU ARE READING
The Past Behind
RomanceDevastating circumtances caused Athena to leave her home town, she never imagined that another tragedy would force her to return three years later. The past she had tried so desperately to bury would start clawing it's way out. If all that wasn't e...
