The End Of Us

7. Hope (part B)

-
Show me where it hurts,
And I'll make it worse.
-

Blurred it was- her vision, when the light brightened the image of her surrounding. Her brain registered the environment she was in. Her senses were not mistaken after all, she still was in the obnoxious cell of a hospital.

A sigh escaped from her form when she realized her body was heavy from all the drug dosage they probably injected in her system. She felt tired despite all the while that she spent dozing. A sense of loneliness was on it's way to creep in to her. But her consciousness recognized another presence, filling the emptiness.

If it weren't for her instincts and the familiar aura the soul beside her was emitting, she would have refused to interact with anybody.

With her back towards him, she pulled the covers further up in an attempt to hide her face.

"So, you awake," He seemed to have a gentler tone, somehow. Was he sympathizing her? She didn't need it eitherways. She thought she was better off alone.

Noting that she didn't respond or perhaps was not planning on answering, he gave an awkward smile, "Say, how've you been all this time?"

She didn't budge.

" Foolish of me to ask that, maybe." He faked a laugh.

He was quiet for a moment, unsure of bringing up a topic.

"I- I am sorry." There seemed to be some sort of hesitation and a long moment of silence followed.

"For whatever happened in the past. I-I I was childish and rebellious and it was stupid of me to introduce you to the world of drugs." His lilt dropped after he verbalized his apology.

At this however, a shiver went down her spine. She lowered her guard. His words stupefied her senses. She couldn't comprehend what he was intending at.

"I know, it's pretty messed up. But I regret my actions. I seriously do."

"Your words," He paused for a moment, "They're still engraved on my brain."

She was intensified. Every next word he spoke, it was like an agonizing tick of a second made to go back in time.

"Life is not about ending it in pathetic manner. "

Wasn't it what she blurted at the heat of that moment? Yes, she had contemplated a lot about what she was doing. This was the conclusion she came up with that time. Little did she know those words would hold no meaning to her in the coming years.

Nonetheless, she carefully turned her head around coming to face him. His head was dipped low, making his hair fall forward messily.

Noticing her movement, he jerked his head up. His eyes had a glint in them. But she failed to recognize the emotion they held. So strong they were and yet, her oblivious self foolishly played it's part.

He was thankful, so grateful. To him, she was the person that compelled him to take a step back and breathe, ponder over the creation of life, mend himself. It was difficult, yes. Not impossible.

He smiled tenderly at her. He looked better, way better than the last time she saw him. The "ringleader" was no longer the delinquent she once sought to escape from the painful reality of life.

The person in front of her was a life reborn out of contemplation.

Entirely new.

"My mother was sick and I couldn't afford the expenses her treatment brought." His voice heavy, endowed in sadness.

"So I sought the easy way out. As cliché as it sounds." His composure faltering bits by bits. "Adults are always the nasty one's, aren't they? One of them lured me in their trap. At least I could save my mama." He snickered, pathetically.

"I was fucking wrong. So so wrong. I realized the day you slapped some sense in me." A pause. An eerie one. Like the calm before the storm.

" She-" His form finally broke down, as tears filled his eyes. He rubbed them harshly in an attempt to veil his brokenness and started to pull his hair, "She passed away later that day. Final stage of cancer and all. But could you really blame me? My joke of a father chickened out on us because he couldn't bother himself with 'his sick wife' anymore. How twisted is that?"

No wonder he looked lifeless the days after. It was apparent now. Also, the fact that she, a hard hearted maniac like her, could have had such a big effect on someone like him.

Life is such. Maybe. It takes different forms. You need not be dead to stop living it. It may leave you when you deviate away from it.
Such delicate thing is life.

She simply nodded. What else could she say? She wasn't the type to comfort people anyways.

All this time, her curious gaze was fixated on his face that were ripe with emotions. Even though she didn't bother to voice out anything, she now sympathized with him.

She hesitantly moved her cold hands forward and placed them in his warm one's in an attempt to console him.

Feeling her touch unexpectedly, he winced. He was bedazzled by the formality  she burdened presenting. He knew her well enough to know the cold her heart was frozen by.

But he accepted it regardless, her affection. It was equivalent to a prized possession to anyone who had known her.

He smiled this time, genuinely. The warmth he was radiating was rather comforting which surprised her to a great extent. She quickly withdrew her hands before she could adore some more of his company.

That wasn't her style.

It was then that it struck her.

"How are you here?" She had asked him.

"Oh, sorry." With a sheepish smile he had said, "I brought you here apparently."

Right. Why else!

"They weren't letting me in the room, so I had to fight my way to see you. We had a situation some time ago." He scratched the back of his head.

"How'd you find me?" Her question was aimed straight, cutting him off.

"I didn't." He had said. Looking right in to her eyes.

She was baffled for a moment before he tried to clear the fog of uncertainty swirling inside her brain.

"He found you in the cold, you were out."

She raised her brows at him.

"I don't know of him. But you could say it was fate that I happened to pass by and he was desperate for some help."

He tried to recall whatever of the memory he could of that day.

"I don't know of the guy. He seemed to be in a hurry and it went out of my head to ask him of his name."

"All I could never forget are his unusual blue eyes. They were the color of the ocean." 

Her breath hitched.