A Second Chance

"you are as beautiful"

Luke

Months passed by, the look on her face still stuck in my mind. When I looked down at her all I saw was residue of the expression. Terror, sadness and worst of all, hopelessness. The boys and I had to keep an eye on her, the doctors said. "She might try something." They said. She never did, but the fear was still in me.

"Hey, Sara?" I knocked on her door.

Fall Out Boy blasted loudly inside.

"We're going down, down, in an earlier round. And sugar we're going down swinging."

"Sara?" I knocked again.

The door slowly creaked open as the music stopped.

Sara sat on the floor with my portable speaker in her hand. She looked up at me with bloodshot, droopy eyes. Her face was sickly pale. Ever since we got back home a few months ago she has been feeling down.

"You okay?" I asked her.

"I never told you how my mom died." She croaked.

I stared down at her droopy, sad, chocolate brown eyes. She looked so limp, so helpless. She looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"You don't have to tell me." I told her, kneeling down next to her.

She jumped into my arms and started crying. I hugged her tightly and rubbed her back, humming her a soft song.

"Shhh. It's okay, babe." I told her.

I instantly felt super embarrassed. Did I just call her 'babe'?

For a while now, my love for her has grown stronger. When I found out Jess had a boyfriend, that dream flew out the window. Now we're awkwardly just friends.

I don't know what I saw in her. Sara is way more beautiful.

"Luke?" Sara said into my shoulder.

"Yes, Sara?"

"I'm tired." She said and stopped crying.

"You wanna take a nap?"

She nodded into my shoulder. I sighed, and picked her up. She was super light. She wrapped her arms around my neck as I pushed the door farther open with my foot and walked into her room.

I walked over to her bed and laid her down. She slowly let go of me and dug herself into her blanket. I looked out the window on the other side of the room and saw the sun was setting. I was gonna ask her if she wanted to go to the park but she's tired.

"He was angry." Her voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"What?"

"He was angry at her. She wanted to leave but he wouldn't let her."

I stared down at her as she hid her head under the blanket.

"'Please, Shane. I can't live like this anymore.' She said."

"Sara, you don't have to tell me."

"I want to."

I sighed, and sat down next to her. She uncovered her head and sat up.

"He hit her."

She stayed silent for a while.

"He hit her so hard, it echoed in the house. I had ran up to her room and watched it all happen. She hit him back. She shouldn't have, but she did."

I noticed her voice had gone a bit higher.

"He got so mad, he grabbed her by the hair and threw her to the wall. Her body slammed against the wall so hard the house shook. I had stopped looking but I could hear her screams."

She stopped again.

"After a while, the screaming died down. Papa left the house but locked the doors. I ran up to her room with Sam following close behind. I saw her head. It wasn't on her shoulders anymore. Blood was everywhere. Sam put his hand over my eyes before I could see the body, but I knew she was gone."

"Oh my god."

"We tried to run. Papa caught us on the streets a few days later. We were hungry, we had to go back with him."

She stopped once more, looking out the window. The sky was a mixture of pink and orange, and it was raining a bit.

"I miss her." She said, her voice cracking.

She looked across the room and to the mirror hung on the wall. I watched as she got out of bed and walked over to the mirror. She looked into it and looked herself up and down.

"I wanted to be as beautiful as her."

I walked up to her and watched as she pulled back her very short hair. It was as long as Michael's. I remember Michael styling her hair into his hairstyle once. I must have tweeted the picture sometime last week. I stood up and walked over to her.

"I have no idea what she looked like, but I know you are as beautiful as her." I told her, hugging her from behind.

She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it and shook her head at herself.

"What were you going to say?"

"Nothing."

"Sara. Please, tell me."

"I-I-" She sighed. "I l-love you, Luke."

"I love you too, Sara." I told he back, resting my chin on the top of her head. "I really do."