"Smoking Kills."

"Smoking Kills." 6 Hello Dylan

Month twenty seven

"Smoking kills."

"But a savior never does."

-

I had a bruise on my stomach again. It didn't hurt that much, I guess. I usually had one on my face so this was different.

Roger was getting bigger, but he was still always there for me.

I still loved Zaire, no matter how much he hurt me. I always forgave him because he said sorry and that he loved me.

I'm on my way to class again, Zaire is going to pick me up after, but I'm walking there today. I'm twenty minutes early, so I watch all the people go by, some give me weird looks, but I just smile at them.

Once twenty minutes pass, I go to class, sitting alone every time.

I'm waiting outside the building, Zaire is late again. It's an hour goes by and then I see him.

He looks angry as he walks towards me, grabbing my arm like that first night at the bar. I furrow my eyebrows, wondering why he was so mad. He just brought me behind the building.

He hit me again and again.

He was about to kick me, when he was suddenly thrown to the ground. I was surprised because he was a large man, around two hundred pounds.

I furrowed my eyebrows and looked up just to see a tall, slim yet muscular man yelling at him. There was a ringing in my ear, so I couldn't hear what he was yelling, but he looked more angry than Zaire.

He punched Zaire, efficiently knocking him out. The ringing had faded, so could hear a little more. The man walked over to me, crouched down because I was on the ground.

He smiled at me and helped me stand up. "Hi there," he said quietly.

"Hello," my voice faltered a bit due to what happened moments ago.

"My name is Kai, what's yours," he asked in a soft voice. I told him my name and he smiled brightly.

"Hello, Dylan."

-

Hello all. If you want to see where this story continues, head over to the sequel "Love Kills."

Love Kills. picks up days after Kai saves Dylan, and goes on to the journey of their love strengthening. I intended for the two stories to be read together, but having two different tones.

Smoking Kills. is a generally harsh tragedy which exposes the worst of vulnerability and abuse, while Love Kills. is a tragic love story, shining a light on the concept of, "Made for each other at the wrong time."