Free Falling

ch. 1

It was a thursday on an extremely early august morning, 2:49 am to be exact. The air was cool from the summer rain, as Icarus ran from his step-father, Minos's trailer. He let his feet drag him into the dark, seeking refuge any place that would accept him for the night. He couldn't stand being alone knowing that Minos could easily kill him in his sleep. His tears mixed with the rain so you couldn't really tell he was crying. 

Icarus kept running until her felt a sudden rush of relief as he came across the soft glow coming from a cafe in the distance. The door was locked, but he could see a girl's silhouette through the tinted glass windows, so he knocked.

Sunny mindlessly hummed a she cleaned the cafe at the ungodly hours of the day. She had insomnia, she usually lasted on about an hour two hours at most of sleep, so instead of staring at the ceiling attempting to rest, she decided to be productive. She liked the silence. All she could hear was the rain tapping on the window, and it calmed her. It was usually quiet at this time of the night, so the sudden knocking on the glass scared her so much that she dropped a pan of freshly baked pastries. Leaving the pastries on the ground, she curiously rushed closer to the window to see what the noise was, only to find a stranger soaking wet from the rain. She opened the front door so she could see his face, and she relaxed when she realized he wasn't really a threat. In fact he seemed somewhat familiar to her, but she just couldn't put a pin on who the stranger actually was. Somehow her intuition told her that he was just trying to find some shelter from the rain, so she wordlessly let him in.

The stranger muttered a thank you. And entered the airy cafe. His face was very solemn, but he looked like he had just taken a beating. He looked around her age. His hair and eyes were dark. Even his clothes were dark which made her think that this kid was not out of his high school emo face yet, which amused Sunny. But seriously his clothes were all black, his pants, his leather jacket, his t-shirt, everything. Once he got a good look at her his eyes widened in recognition.

The whole situation felt a little hazy, but Sunny mumbled, "You're getting my floor wet." and she ran up to her apartment upstairs to find him a towel, and possibly a first aid-kit, leaving a confused looking Icarus dripping on her cafe floor.

He stood there awkwardly, fiddling with the leather bracelet tied around his wrist, but a few moments later Sunny came back with some clean towels and a first aid box."You can dry off with these." 

"Thanks." He said, and grabbed one of the towels she placed on the table and quickly dried his hair, and sat down on one of the wooden chairs.

"Why were you out in the rain?! You could have gotten hypothermia! Are you stupid?" 

"A little," he mumbled jokingly.

Sunny rolled her eyes, and poured him a steaming mug of hot chocolate, to warm up.

"Why are you helping me? I could be a serial killer or something" Icarus shivered, as he held the warm beverage.

"Well are you a serial killer or something." Sunny questioned simply

"No."

"Well then. I guess I'm helping you just because it's the nice thing to do." She said as she stared as his bruised and cut face, as he sipped his hot chocolate. She wondered why he looked so beaten up, but it clearly wasn't her place to ask, so she didn't bother questioning it. But she didn't want to just sit by and do nothing.

"You're bleeding."

"I am?"

"Yeah, hold on, I can help with that. But it's gonna hurt a little." She said as she quickly took out a bunch of things from the first aid box.

"Wait. What are you doing?" Icarus asked defensively.

"Your cuts will get infected if they aren't treated properly."

"Oh."

As soon as she started cleaning the cuts with the disinfectant, Icarus flinched at her touch and muttered a few curses.

"Fucking hell, that burns."

"No shit, I literally said it was gonna hurt a little." She said annoyedly.

His mouth twitched in amusement. Icarus still wondered why she was helping him, no one ever did anything out of their way for him, why would she do it now. He wasn't used to this kind of treatment. No one ever helped him with anything. He was always alone. Despite the burning, he noticed how soft her finger tips were on his face. He noticed how her nose scrunched in concentration, and how small she was. She was petite, for an 18 year old. And her eyes. They were both staring at each other, trying to figure the other out. Sunny's eyes relaxed Icarus, they were like a warm pool of gold, but thinking about gold suddenly reminded him of why he was there, and what he was running away from.

"This is gonna hurt a lot more since the cut is deeper." She said, before quickly dabbing the disinfectant on his skin. She flinched knowing how much it would hurt.

"Oka- ffffffucccck." He whined in pain.

Sunny shushed him, "Keep it down! My brother is sleeping upstairs!"

"Sorry..." 

Icarus had no idea she had a brother, he always thought she was an only child. In all honesty. Icarus didn't know much about Sunny, they went to highschool together, and he had a crush on her a while ago, but he just assumed that she forgot who he was, so he pretended to be oblivious of who she was.

As Sunny bandaged the last cut on Icarus's face, she felt so dumb on how she didn't realize earlier

She whispered softly, "I do know you."

"No, you don't." Icarus threw back.

"Yes, I do!" She smiled an jumped up from her seat, "You're Icarus! We went to highschool together! I think we had Mythology and English class together."

Her actions were adorable, but Icarus was still in defense mode, after his recent encounter with Minos. "Well just because we went to school together doesn't mean we know each other..."

"Yeah, but it does mean that you're not an absolute stranger."

"I suppose so." He muttered. "Well, thanks for your help, I guess I'll just be going." He stood up.

"Oh, you're not going anywhere." She said as she put her hands on her hips stubbornly. "You could still get sick in the rain. And assuming that you aren't going back home, you could just stay here for the night."

"I don't wanna intrude. I shouldn't have came here in the first place."

That comment hurt Sunny a little, but she brushed it off.  "It's literally raining cats, and dogs out there. I have an extra bedroom upstairs, so the least I can do is give you a place to sleep for a night or two Icarus."

Icarus 's stomach flipped when she said his name. It sounded so innocent when she said it. And Sunny made sure he had no choice to back out, so he finally gave into her kindness.

"Fine."