beautiful | daniel howell

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day eleven: thursday.
reason eleven: your tears.

the sun's golden glow peaked through the blinds left slightly ajar; into the small room, lit just enough to see the faded shadows resting upon elodie's pale face. her eyelashes fluttered a few times before peeling themselves open to be met with the white ceiling.

she layed there for a while, breathing slowly as she gazed around her bedroom. they stopped on a framed photo of her father kissing her mother lovingly on her cheek. the photo could always bring a smile to her face.

for years, the pure happiness and joy that they had was something elodie had craved. she was lonely without them. so very lonely. but perhaps, she had finally found someone to give her that missing part of her heart.

elodie pulled the soft covers from her bare legs lazily wondering to the shower before steping in.

make up was something she barely ever wore. that was a new-found thing. of course two weeks ago she wouldn't have had the courage or strength to bare her face. dan did that.

a basic choice of light wash denim jeans and white short sleeved shirt would do sufficiently today. nothing fancy.

not long later, there was a knock that echoed through the open-plan home. elodie jogged over, opening the door.

"hey." dan said, leaning against the door frame.

"hey." she replied stepping to the side and gesturing for him to come in.

"so i was thinking." he began before being cut off my elodie.

"is that ever a good way to start something?" she teased raising an eyebrow in the process.

"shut up and let me finish." he joked giving her a playful nudge with his elbow. she grabed onto her arm dramatically.

"the pain! it's hurts!"

elodie was slowly realising that she was growing more comfortable around dan. his dorky personality brought out her own dorky side. she wasn't afraid to hide or pretend to be someone else.

she strolled over to the grey couch, pating a space next to her for dan to sit on. she crossed her legs as she waited for him.

dan's mouth parted as if to say something but it quickly closed. a look of thought played on his face as he thought of a way to formulate the best sentence.

"when you said that...you never got to say goodbye to your parents, want what did you mean? y-you don't have to tell me if you don't want to..."

'dan, it's okay." she rested a hand on top of dan's to stop him from messing with them nervously. " i actually wanted to tell you." she looked around the room to focus on anything else. "you'd be only one to know, actually."

"you don't have to." he quickly reassured.

'no, dan, i want to. i've never let people in before. not like i have with you. not like i want to with you." elodie took a deep breathe, preparing her to share a subject she'd never once talked about out loud, or to another soul. "thirteen years ago, when i was ten, me, my mum and my dad were going on a trip. we were driving down a main road. it was icey and-and the tires must have s-slipped." her words stuttered as she forced the story past her rattling teeth and tears covering her cold eyes like blankets. "as we crossed over a b-bridge, we...skiddied. and the car flew off. they both died from the impact." she sighed wiping away tears that had escaped.

"i'm sorry." he whispered.

"why? you didn't do anything."

"i'm sorry that you had to go through that." dan rubbed his thumb on elodie's hand in an attempt to comfort her. little did he know that his presence alone was enough make her world spin.

"sorry, i'm an ugly crier." she joked as she kept wiping away the tears dropping onto her shirt. "i don't really know why i am crying. it all happened so long ago."

"because they're your parents elodie, you're aloud to miss them." he stroked away the tears falling down her face with his thumbs gently. "reason eleven, your tears. your emotions are beautiful."