Tragic, Yet Beautiful Love. ~A Short Story~

Tragically Beautiful

Kiara ran the brush through her hair, catching it on a tangle. She groaned reaching for the scissors, quickly snipping away at the stray hair. The scissors were set down and she continued to brush, looking into the mirrored reflection of herself as she did so. Her eyes drifted from her own face and settled on a picture sticking out of the corner of the mirror. It was a picture of Cassandra, who was Kiara's girlfriend. She smiled, setting her brush down and pulling the picture from the mirror, leaning back in her chair as she admired it. The picture had been taken around their 3 month mark, Cassander had her head thrown back in laughter, and in the picture her eyes had a certain tint to them. It was something hard for Kiara to explain, but something that was always there whenever they were together. She looked beautiful, simply because she was beautiful.

She'd gotten slightly lost in the photo, so when her phone vibrated from her pocket the girl jumped a bit before rolling her eyes and pulling it out. And as if her thoughts about her had triggered it, she saw a text from Cassandra. 'Can you come over? I need to talk to you.' Kiara frowned, shooting a quick text back as she grabbed her hoodie 'Through the window?' The text was marked read as soon as it'd been sent, a speech bubble appeared and Kiara dreaded the answer, because she already knew what it was. She'd come out to her own parents, and they'd accepted her graciously, both being understanding of the facts that someone's sexual origin didn't define who they were. But Cassandra's parents on the other hand... They were strict Catholics. They didn't know that Cassandra identified as a lesbian, much less know that she had a girlfriend.

The typing bubble flashed into text, 'Definitely. Be careful.' Kiara slipped on her hoodie and shoved the phone into her pocket. She pulled open the door and peeked down the stairs, her parents weren't as strict as her girlfriend's, but that didn't mean they were gonna let her leave the house at 10 o'clock. She wasn't a rule breaker, and didn't bother considering herself one. But if Cass needed something, anything, she'd be there.

She closed the door softly, leaving the light and her radio on. Moving quickly, she jumped lightly over the first step for fear it would creak, and then hurried down the rest. She glanced down the hallways, and-seeing no sign of her family-ran for the door, grabbing her shoes off the rack before pulling open the heavy wood and letting it shut gently behind her. Now outside, she slipped her shoes on. The air was brisk and cold, going along nicely with the darkness that had settled over the city. The cold bit sharply at her bare neck, she shivered before pulling her hair off to the side. She pulled her hood up, which offered a small layer of protection against the freezing wind.

She started walking, and the walk quickly picked up into a brisk jog as she realized that she didn't have a horrible amount of time. It only took her a few minutes to to get there, she turned the corner and could already see the blurry outline of the house. Moving quickly she closed the distance between herself and said house. Cassandra light was on, glowing from within. Kiara walked over to it, glancing up, the window was easily 10 feet of the ground. "Romeo had it easy...." she muttered, "he had a ladder..." She grabbed a rock, throwing it at the window, feeling like a total cliche as she did so. The window opened, and Cassandra leaned over the side, gesturing upward.

Kiara did the climb as she always did, with great difficulty. She walked to the tree a few feet from the house. She reached up and grabbed onto the first branch, swinging herself back, and throwing her legs on it, she felt the rough bark scratching through her jeans. She then carefully re-positioned her hands, pulling herself up. One more to go... She thought, carefully standing on the branch and securing her hands onto the one above her. Kiara swung herself up once again, she'd just about mastered the art. After doing so, she looked warily over to Cassandra, who held out her hands, signaling for her to come.

Kiara inched herself down the branch, nearing the window as she crawled. It began to swoon under her weight, so she carefully stood. Her legs were shaking, to be quite frank, this part terrified her. She held out her arms, steadying herself. And then, with a deep breath she began leaning towards the window, and once she was about a foot away, she transferred her weight forward, bracing herself for the impact. Her hands hit the wood hard and Cassandra immediately clasped her own hands around Kiara's wrists as they moved simultaneously. Cassandra pulled her up just enough for her to do what what basically was a really crappy pull up, and managed to throw herself through the window.

She landed as quietly as she could and then glanced up at her girlfriend, breathing heavily. But seeing her smile, made it all worth it. She was offered a hand and she grabbed onto it, Cassandra pulled her from the ground into a hug. Kiara tightened her arms around Cassandra waist, her scent was intoxicatingly comforting. And in that moment that they stood holding each other, everything was perfect. Perfectly right, perfectly clear, perfectly beautiful, perfectly perfect. But everything always come to an end...

Kiara pulled back and examined Cassandra's face, taking in the small details she hadn't noticed before. Her eye seemed almost sunken, and beyond that, red and teary. Her heart began to sink, Cassandra had been crying. Kiara took her hand and led her over to the bed, they both sat down and Kiara turned to face her, cradling her girlfriend's hand in her own. "What happened?" she asked softly, "what do you need to talk to me about?"

Cassandra pursed her now trembling lips together, the thought of the sadness bringing on a whole new wave of emotions. Whatever it was, it was truly breaking her, to the core. Her eyes were missing their sparkle, her skin was paler and she had clear bags under her eyes. But that was all nothing nothing compared to the look of hopelessness that had crossed over her face... And when she held onto Kiara, she did it like she might never get to again.

That was when she came to the realization of what happened, "your
parents..." she muttered. "They found out..." Cassandra nodded squeezing her eyes shut and clenching her fist together as if she were blocking out the pain that had swept over her. A single droplet, a single tear made it's way across her cheek.

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She always woke up in tears, and usually waking up from a nightmare is a good thing, but she wasn't waking up. She'd never escape it, never escape the nightmare the hit her every time she went to bed. Drawing out the pain she'd tried so desperately to suppress, she buried her head in her trembling hands. Cassandra had committed suicide a week after her parents found out. She'd been sent to a Christian Conservation Camp. And she'd been terrified, terrified of actually being the sin they'd accused her of being. Terrified of them changing who she was, but most of all she'd been terrified that they would change how she felt about Kiara.

Kiara had managed to stand up, she leaed against the wall to steady herself as she crossed over to the lightswitch. She slammed her hand onto it and dropped herself into her desk chair, looking into her mirror and sitting where she sat only a few months ago, when everything had been different. And in the corner of the mirror, was the picture of Cassandra. Of her beautiful Cassandra, who deserved a life better than the one she was given.

Pain washed over her once again and she clamped her fists together, squeezing her eyes shut and wishing it all away. But she knew, she knew more than anything else here she would never escape the nightmare she lived. Even if she wished it away, just like the nightmare, it would never leave. But she'd rather live in that nightmare than her nightmare, because in that nightmare, they were together. They were sad, and scared, and had the weight of a disapproving society on their shoulders, but they were together. And with that, a single droplet, a single tear made it's way across her cheek.