PINK

15

'You need so much strength

To love someone properly.'

They both leave the house and close the door quietly.

"Agh." Dante holds his arm up to shield his light eyes from the sun's rays. Iara laughs.

"Dude, it's the sun. It's dusk it's not even that bright." She walks off but Dante just stands there peering at the grass and trees.

"It's bright. Do you have sunglasses? I can't go out like this." He seems genuinely disturbed by the beams of light. Iara searches through her backpack and hands him a pair of sunglasses.

"Here." She says, confused.

They walk down to the shopping complex and enter the hardware store. Dante pricks up his hoodie.

"It's hot Dante you are going to faint." She whispers to him, nudging his arm to get his attention. He pulls back and clenches his jaw.

She furrows her eyebrows.

"What's wrong? I didn't force you to come. Just go back if you want."

"Just stop telling me what to do!" He screams but quietly as not to raise suspicion from strangers.

"I'm telling you, you will die if you don't take off one of your many layers." She explains, defensively.

"Please just worry about yourself okay? I can look after myself." Dante is agitated. Iara stops at the aisle with the rat poison. She collects the biggest package.

He mutters something under his breath, slightly smirking.

"What?" She snaps.

"What? Nothing, God, you are so on edge today." He replies walking away from her.

"Tell me which one to get!"

Dante storms up and grabs the middle sized box and paces towards the checkout leaving Iara behind. She jogs up to him; observing as Dante swiftly exchanges money for the posion.

They exit and are hit with a wall of rain, sweeping past them. Iara uses her arms to shield herself as Dante jogs under shelter. Squinting, Iara doesn't spot Dante's hideout and continues straight into on-coming traffic. The rain is falling at such high speeds nothing else can be heard except for it hitting the tarmac. Like static it sounds, static on high volume. Dante is crouching under a bus shelter looking down at his already soaked clothes. It stings.

Iara walks quickly over the pavement's edge and now is on the dark grey surface of the road. The honks and yells of people can't be heard over the strong weighty drops that smash on the ground. She continues to step further into the still cars, its drivers pressing the middle of their steering wheels peering through the swiping window-wipers that push away the abundance of sky water splattered across the screen.

Dante wipes away his tears that camouflage in the rain, sourced by his excruciating pain. His vision becomes clearer and he catches the group of bright headlights shining onto a confused girl on the road. The way she carries herself, insecurely and consciously, her name chimes in his mind as do alarm bells.

"Shit." He shoots up despite the burning on his arms caused by the friction and dampness of his clothes against his skin. He perseveres through the rain that work together to push him back. Each droplet, soldiers that work to deter him from helping her.

"Iara!" He calls, voice only a whimper compared the blaring mixture of rain and horns. The water seeps into his ten year old shoes with the worn out grips. Nearly slipping he manages to catch her in the midst of the swarming rain. His aching arms tight around her, he brings her to near by shelter and sits her down in the pavement.

"Oh, thank you. I'm sorry I couldn't see a thing." Iara grabs her hair in a bunch and squeezes, water patters onto the concrete below creating a dark patch. Iara  looks back at the mess she created and a feeling if guilt and fear sprouts from within her. A tear boils at the corner of her eye and slides down. She could have died.

He reassures her very thing is okay, but the waver in his tone evokes worry in Iara.

"Are you alright?" She asks him. He nods, but behind the dark glasses his eyes are red and awash with suppressed emotions.

"Let's get home before it gets worse." She advises as they both look up and see, in the distance, there are darker clouds to come. Walking faster than before their feet splash with each step. The water soaks them, clothes clinging to the bare skin. Unfortunately for Iara, her white attire becomes semi-transparent the wetter it becomes. Dante can't help but look for a bit, and when he does, he sees more than he bargains for.

His cheeks become hot despite the cold droplets hitting them. Heart throbbing in his chest, his breath hitches when he peers closer; the heat covers his whole face and burns more. Red marks litter the girl's skin, some scabbed others healing and faint. Dante feels his throat close and a horrible sinking feeling above his abdomen. He can make out their erratic shapes, almost like scratches and bruises.

What an accident she must of had. He thinks. Something in him doubts this. He would take of his hoodie and give it to her, but he wouldn't want to expose his own marks. She doesn't need more to worry about.

"I-I can see through your top." He stutters nervously, looking up. Iara stops and looks down at her visible skin. Reacting, she wraps her arms around her own body and walks faster away from Dante.

"Hey! I wasn't looking Iara!" He lies, but he truly wasn't, not in the way she thought.

She spins around, eyebrows downwards and lips lowered.

"You are all the same seriously!" Iara screams, turning around and feeling warm tears trickle down her cheeks. She bites her lip in fury, it hurts, but she pushes harder to release the feelings of betrayal. She lifts her teeth from her blushing lip and tastes a metallic flavour in her mouth. She wipes her lip and blood is smeared of the heel of her palm.

She reaches the house first and opens the door, quickly going in and locking it behind her. She turns around and sees Stephen loitering, awaiting their arrival.