Saffron

9

Day 40
The day I held Saffron Walters in my arms as she cried.

It was two-thirty-six. I remember the exact time because I was infuriated with the ringing sounds of my abnoxious phone. I hadn't written about you in a couple weeks because everything was becoming just about perfect and I didn't want to spend my spare time alone.

I picked up the phone only to shut it up, not realising it was your name displayed on the screen. You spoke ever so weakly, in an almost whisper but swallowing back your words. I listened closely as you murmered my name which was followed by a loud gasp. It took me a while to realise and my chest caved inwards when I did. The second I heard you mumble your brother's name, I threw on my jacket and grabbed my keys all while I held your sobs close to my ear.

When I had finally arrived at your house, phone still stuck to the side of my face, you opened the door slowly. The house was dark with nothing but a single table lamp beside a lonely sofa. I said your name softly, afraid you would shatter from the sound. I remember you walking away and leaving the front door open for me to show myself in.

There you laid, still and silent, curled up into a ball and I came to pick you up and hold you in my arms. You weeped fiercly but as quiet as you could manage. I can still picture your eyes now, the way they were washed in your tears and the look of defeat. You kept holding in your cries so much that you began hicupping, every few seconds your body would jolt and your breath sped.

It was a couple hours until you had finally stopped and I laid you down with your favourite blanket I fetched from your bedroom. You had told me your parents were still with him and they made you come home. You always hated not being in control, you always wanted to help. I swear if I could have taken that pain, that unbearable, agonizing pain -- I would have taken it all. Every ounce of it, just so you didn't have to know how misery felt when it burned through your soul. I stayed with you that whole night, holding you tighter everytime you awoke and the times you couldn't tell your reality and nightmares apart.

Day 40, the day Saffron Walters fell apart and I was afraid I couldn't catch all the pieces.