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12

You don't have to do something you are uncomfortable with. You come first in your life.

NUMB

Let's just say the peacefulness of the room didn't last. Now, flour was sprinkled on the counter and their faces. Big goofy smiles and laughs filled the room as the two ran around the island, playing a game of tag.

The atmosphere soon changed as a muffled ringing came from the coffee table, making the two freeze both looking at each other. Shuffling over to the noise she picked up the phone seeing an unknown contact.

That's Portland's zip code. Clicking to answer, she put her phone up to her ear, ready to hear some nonsense from a spam caller. But the words she heard next would be life-altering.

"Hello, Is this Ms. Akina Sato?" The woman on the other line asked.

"This is she."

"This is Portland's Grace Hospital, we're sorry to inform you but, your grandmother passed away. She was found in her bed not breathing..." The rest of the phone call was drowned out in her head as her gut wrenched and bile rose in her throat. A piercing scream then escaped her as the phone slid out of her hands.

Knees giving out and blurry vision from the tears that filled her eyes, she fell to the ground; sobbing hysterically. Her whole world was flipped just as she was beginning to get comfortable. Everything inside of shattered; returning her to the fragile glass doll that she always was.

She felt numb, overwhelmed, and insane. Her own self was backfiring on her as she shook in arms that she didn't felt, and two hands that were cradling her broken pieces; picking them up softly and trying to piece them back together.

But what if the damage was compromised, unfixable to the point where not even the slightest care could help? The only family she's ever known were all dead, gone. As her body shook, and her lungs dried out making her cough painfully, to point that some of her tears were from that, she stayed sat on the cold hardwood floor with half her face on his chest.

It wasn't until her tears physically wouldn't come out and her eyes drooped heavily; exhausted, feeling drained to the point that the cold floor couldn't alert her senses. Now her coughs echoed and the crust had formed under her eyes, meaning that every time she would blink her lashes would get stuck.

Everything around her was blurred, but not from tears, but from the excruciating pain, she felt. The sounds of horror that pounded so loud inside of her that they traveled to her ears, taking away any clear sight. Her body was overworking to compensate for the aches that were indescribable, so she lost her surroundings, the only sound heard was somehow the pain.

The scene was brutal if anyone were to see it. The two sat on the floor between the kitchen and living room. The girl, whose body looked shriveled as her face was drained of all color and her body shook from the coughs. The boy, who sat there cradling the girl, with a face of grim and the tears that fell delicately; seeing the pain from up close. Her hands that managed to grip on his hoodie that had puddles of tears, and his hands that rubbed small circles on her back.

Not to mention, the clouds that hid the sun, making the world darker, as the sky cried with her. The room now was less lit, only the day keeping the room from being dark. The sorrowful orchestra that consisted of coughing, weeping, and the string of hopeful yet melancholy words that he whispered to her.

Her heartbeat finally slowed down, only because she, at this point would faint from all the feelings she expressed. Now she felt numb, lifeless, and she was being rocked back and forth. "I need to go back to Portland," the words came out of her dull but somehow held so much sorrow that made his heart pull even more.

"Okay, we'll go," he silenced the room, stopping the orchestra of mourning for a second, washing a small amount of relief that was comforting enough for her to be able to speak again, "Thank you."

Those words, simple, yet held all the meaning in the world. And even though her throat choked up because her emotions were about to overspill again she somehow managed a new feeling. Grateful.

Grateful to have someone willingly follow her into a recurring nightmare, someone not scared of the damage of her life that was begging to be shown. Because he didn't know the exact reason for her tears, but he knew that his pull to her made all his curiosity go away. The only thing in his mind was to help her become okay again, to see her smile again one day.

That's all he begged for on the cold floor in the midday with the water that was also weeping outside.

He just wanted her to be okay.

sad days = sad chapters, sorry.

This was going to happen eventually but I decided to do it sooner than later :(