The Youthful You Who Was So Beautiful

Fourteen

The sky had darkened completely.

Sebastian asked every single shop along the streets, and finally found the dark and dingy alley Eliza had been dragged into. In the darkness of the night, Eliza's school bag, textbooks, pencils, mobile phone, skirt and red string lay strewn on the muddy floor. Sebastian hastily picked up Eliza's items, storing them in her school bag. He twined the red string around his hand, and continued to search for Eliza.

The icy cold wind swept up the alley, causing the leaves of the surrounding trees to rustle and their shadows to tremble. It was about to rain.

A single bolt of lightning ripped across the inky night sky, illuminating Sebastian's extraordinarily pale face. He walked further into the alley, the gust of wind causing a white piece of cloth to tumble to his feet. He had seen this piece of cloth before – in his toilet, hanging quietly from the clothing rack. That small piece of cloth stopped temporarily by Sebastian's feet before continuing its journey to the rubbish pile.

Sebastian found Eliza amongst the bushes, her white, pale body curled into a tight ball. There were innumerable wounds and marks on her body, as though she was a solitary, bloodshot eyeball that had dropped into the mud.

Sebastian knelt down beside Eliza. He took off his shirt, and carefully wrapped his shirt around her frail body. Eliza's body gave an involuntary shudder. Her breathing was barely perceptible.

"It's me......" He approached Eliza slowly, carefully sweeping the unruly fringe and hair from her face. Eliza stared at him blankly. One second. Two seconds. In that very moment, something Eliza had been dearly hanging onto broke into pieces, and she fainted into unconsciousness.

Sebastian carefully wrapped Eliza up.

Carrying her in his arms, Sebastian began the walk back to his motorcycle.

The alley was void of people. Bolts of pure white lightning streaked across the sky.

It was time. The torrential rain began to pour.

The motorcycle zoomed into the night as the wind and rain whipped around the two youths. The youths were drenched in entirety, as though they had been travelling underwater.

The icy sheets of rain continued to pour mercilessly from above. The girl in Sebastian's arms was akin to a corpse; her body was like a limp and lifeless rucksack that continually slid down the motorcycle as Sebastian drove. Sebastian was forced to stop his motorcycle again and again, each time patiently propping Eliza up and cuddling her with his arms. Finally, Sebastian was left with no choice but to tie Eliza to his body with a rope.

He hugged her tightly whilst muttering to himself under his breath, as though he was trying to hypnotise somebody, "It's okay. Everything's going to be fine. Trust me, everything's going to be fine."

There was no response. The innocent and youthful her was already dead.

She was the only clean and beautiful thing in his filthy and disgusting life.

And now, she was dead.

The youth pressed his face tightly against her pale, icy face, howling in his sorrow.

The rain continued to beat down ferociously, forming little streams of water that swept the rubbish into the drains. It was as though the storm was intent on clearing every single piece of dirt from the city.

The rainy season was so long.

But, despite the torrential rain and the howling wind that raged throughout the night, by the very next morning, everything resumed its normalcy. The world was still there – noisy, messy, and complicated.