❝ Give me ten days. Until Christmas, to give you ten reasons to not die, ten reasons to show you that life is worth living. ❞
They first met in a dark alleyway.
The catch? The gun in his hand, pointed at himself.
Ten days until Christmas; ten days...
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4:55 am
Azura walked into the now familiar alley before the sun even rose.
Under the cover of darkness, she had slipped out of her house before her brother could wake up. If at all possible, she wanted to avoid any further interrogation.
She was sure that Xandar would be watching her like a hawk once he woke up. But she simply had to see Jordan at least once that day.
Even if it meant giving up on precious hours of sleep.
So she wrapped herself in her warmest clothes, and snuck out at four in the morning.
Her teeth chattered against the freezing wind, but frankly, she didn't care.
Arriving at their usual spot, she stood for a moment, searching her surroundings for the mysterious young man she had come to be closely acquainted with.
A frown adorned her delicate features as she realised that Jordan was nowhere to be found.
Her feet carried her forward as her eyes roamed, eagerly looking for him.
As her gaze was fixed forward, she failed to notice the little white puppy curled up on the ground.
And when she finally did look down, it was much too late to step over Sky. And as her feet stumbled to avoid stepping on the pup, she fell down onto her side with a high shriek of alarm. The sound echoed through the silence of the early morning, followed by an audible thump.
She lay in a helpless jumble of limbs for a few moments, her brain struggling to process the incident. Luckily for her, the soft snow lessened the impact, and she was relieved to find at her body was mostly unscathed.
The commotion woke up the little puppy on the ground, and it gave a little yelp of excitement at seeing Azura.
It jumped up and started running in tight circles around the girl. Groaning, Azura propped herself up onto her knees. She reached out and rubbed Sky's head.
"Hey there, little guy," she murmured as she watched it sidle up to her.
Smiling softly, she asked, "Do you know where Jordan is?"
The puppy gazed at her for a while, before obediently trotting off into the distance. Azura scrambled to get up and catch up with the dog.
Sky halted to a stop in front a figure slumped against a crumbling brick wall.
Jordan.
Azura blinked in surprise, astonished by the intelligence of the little dog next to her. She wasn't sure what she expected when she asked it about Jordan's whereabouts, but it certainly wasn't this.
"You're a lot smarter than I gave you credit for."
Sky barked as if agreeing with her.
Crouching down beside Jordan, she shook his shoulder gently to wake him. All she got where a few incoherent grunts and groans.
