Ashes in March

She didn't want to be saved but he was up for the job.

***

We both had secrets, Off Limits topics, things we couldn't ask each other, issues that were, more or less, off the table. There were never any words spoken as to what exactly was Off Limits but just the barest hardening of lips and stiffness of shoulders would tell you all you needed to know.

And it was only like that sometimes. The abrupt slamming of a metal door, and behind that door, a stone wall, and further beyond that wall, a 6 inch thick bulletproof glass box and even then, placed neatly on a pedestal within that box, our tiny chest of secrets. Ash didn't yet have the key to my own, although I could feel the need to give it up becoming more... compelling.

But until that moment, Ash remained steadfast in front of me, tugging my hand and leading me further and further away from the perilous cliff edge and perhaps, towards an even more dangerous edge of his own: hope.

***

There may be some triggering things such as suicide in this story. If those types of things affect you negatively, do not continue on.