A Brighter Tomorrow

• t w e n t y s e v e n •

"She says horrible things. They're all right. It was always my fault" he mumbled and I wrapped my arms around him without a notice. I wanted to absorb all his pain and call it mine, because seeing him hurt was a sight I couldn't erase.

"Raf, listen to me" I whispered in his ear, but he burrowed his head into my neck as his tears dampened the front of my shirt. "It's so hard" his breath tickled the hollow of my neck, and his arms tightened around my waist.

"She's going to be here for the trial. I can't do this" he murmured again, and I remembered the case Mark was talking about. This must've been it. My curiosity piqued, but my urgency to stop him from succumbing into his past was stronger.

"Whatever it is, I'll be here for you" my words were muffled as his hair tickled my jaw and I wished I could embrace his problems away.

He didn't seem to hear any of my words as he kept on murmuring. "I'm trying to stop this. What if I turn out like her?".

I made a move to get up, because this seemed like something Bree could help with, but he didn't let me. "Why are you leaving?" his eyes bored into mine and the frailty arising in his words rippled across my chest like a wave, submerging me in its chaos.

I let him burrow his head into my neck and it was physically impossible for me to move an inch with his arms confining me, but there was no other place I'd rather be in this moment.

"Sometimes I want to give up, but I can't" he admitted in a low voice and I froze as soon as the words left his mouth.

My breath hitched at his confession, and my blood thundered against my ears as I felt a blitz of memories from that night.

I can't do this anymore. I'm sorry I'm giving up.

"No, don't say that" my voice sounded coarse as I spurred the words out. "Don't you dare say that again".

"I can't do this" the volume of his voice grew panicked. He was still stuck in that limbo phase that I knew all too well, and it terrified me because he wasn't even registering my words.

"Dad said she's coming here. He doesn't understand. No one does" my feeling of inadequacy grew with each word he said. But I listened, hoping my voice would infiltrate his mind and he would claw his way out of the dark zone.

His consciousness seemed dormant as his eyes glazed over with a tornado of emotions. Tears glistened across his sharp cheekbones, glimmering as the faint light scattered across his face and the rippling shadows danced across his skin. Even when he was crying, he looked ethereal and his eyes portrayed an abstract notion that even broken things could be beautiful too.

"Dad said she'll be here" he repeated again as his eyes widened in blatant fear, and pure terror struck his face.

"No. I don't want her here. Please, tell him not to bring her here" his voice cracked with emotion as his warm breath fanned over my neck, contrasting with the chilly nip in the air.

Raf's arms were coiled around my waist, but not to the point where it was suffocating. It felt as if he was holding onto me for support, and that feeling warmed my heart. It was something I wanted to savour, because I hoped I was here every single time he needed an anchor to hold him down during these messy tsunamis of the past.

"Dad doesn't know how bad she is. She's really bad" his voice trembled, and his eyes widened with unused tears brimming his lids. He looked nothing like the person I knew, instead he resembled a boy terrified out of his wits and stranded within the dark shadows haunting his mind.

"I'm right here". My thumb wiped the tears spilling from his eyes, which fused with each other as they trailed down his face in multiple streaks.

His glimmering eyes turned to me, and red spots freckled his face. "You won't leave?" his voice was hopeful.