The Year Of Rain

Protect

"Ok. Break's over. Everyone get on the bus. Next stop: Marj." the bus driver called to the people spread around, some buying food, others having just returned from the restroom.

Rea sighed, putting her cigarette out after which she tossed it into the trash bin nearby. She returned to the bus, her mind in shambles. She still couldn't get her sister's words out of her head. (Y/N) had kept something extremely important from them and though May refused to disclose what it was, the way she sad it let her know that the situation was dire, and she needed to hurry back home. She couldn't sleep, concern eating away at her like a worm devouring a healthy apple. On the outside, the fruit was still beautiful and watered one's mouth, but on the inside, it was rotten and disgusting. The next day, she embarked on the bus, trying to calm herself before arriving home. Easier said than done. Maybe she shouldn't have left so quickly after the Christmas party, but staying in that house was too suffocating, their absence much too strong for her to take it. As soon as her sister graduated high school and moved to college, she planned to sell it and split the money with her siblings. She saw no other way, no other path to ease the pain.

The sound of the engine and the moving scenery, the lyrics of the cheesy pop-song flowing in her ears through her headphones, the old woman talking with someone in front about her grandchildren, so many things which went on as usual. It all felt the same yet falling apart at the same time. Nothing was the same, but it still struggled to be. Her family was in ruins, the future which felt so secure once, was unknown. She sighed, fighting back the tears that threatened to come out, regret getting ready to scream in her face again. She was tired, so very tired. She leaned forward, pressing her forehead against the cold glass, letting the chill soothe the burning sensation that took over her.

"(Y/N), what have you done this time?" she whispered, eyes closed, praying that this time, she won't lose anyone else.

✠♦✠

She paced through the room, her eyelids heavy, begging for the rest she refused to give them. Her mind continued to revolve around last night's conversation, her arms wrapping tighter around Kuro, the creature lazily snuzzling his head against her chin. He could feel her restlessness, feathers still ruffled from the night before when she presented him to Cecilia. He could still recall the shouting, the tears shed and the anger that flowed down in rivers from May's mouth, mixed with a pain that had been thought gone, but now was coming back to haunt them with a vengeance.

✠♦✠

As soon as she heard the key in the door, May grabbed Kuro, who had been playing with a yarn ball, and ran to the hallways, where Cecilia was still taking off her snow-covered coat, and presented him to her, all the fury, pain and fear that had been building up inside her up to that point exploding at that very moment.

"What is the meaning of this?!" she yelled at the woman who jumped in her boots when confronted with such anger.

She tried to speak, but before she could get a word in, when she noticed Kuro held tight in her arms. He had changed so much; he was barely recognizable wouldn't it have been for the bugs letting her of his new appearance. He stared at her with pleading eyes, begging her to calm down the furious girl who was unknowingly squishing him to death.

"May...please listen to me," Cecilia tried to speak, but in vain.

"Since when has this been going on?! What is happening? What is wrong with (Y/N) and why hasn't anyone told us about this?!" May barricaded her with questions again, unable to control the avalanche of emotions that took over her.

She busted out in violent sobs, crashing to the floor as she hugged Kuro closer to her chest, burying her face in his head's fur. She didn't know what she wanted. She could hardly speak anymore, voice suffocated by sobs and whimpers that rushed out of her body, a desperate attempt to get the burden she felt on her chest off. But it wouldn't flinch. The weight was still there, rowing larger and larger, and no matter how much she wanted to, she couldn't get it to stop. She wished it could all be a bad dream, a nightmare that she would wake up from soon.