Sweat trickled down his forehead as he made his way down the narrow street that led to their humble abode. They're homeless, and basically they've been living in the streets for years, yet he never felt unsatisfied about it. Perhaps time breeds satisfaction, or it is the person itself that finds satisfaction. Well, in his case, he found that satisfaction in Lena.
She's important to him—important as a son to his mother. She's the ray of hope in his miserable life and perhaps the color in his monochromatic world. She's the source of his satisfaction.
'And she likes apples', he thought. Lena likes them when they're red as blood.
Wiping his sweat, he hastily walked towards their shelter. One can say that it's not a proper house, for it misses some parts. It doesn't have a door or a window, but what matters is that they have somewhere to sleep and somewhere that could somehow shelter them from cold nights and blazing days. It's more than a house; actually, their house sheltered a lot of memories that he knows he will treasure for a lifetime.
He was already near their shelter when he smelled something burning. As he approached their shelter, he heard noises, and the smoke became so visible that it obstructed his eyesight. The sight of their shelter froze him.
It was burning; the fire was already consuming almost half of their house. He stood perplexed, confused about what exactly was happening. A bullet grazed over his shoulder; she shoved him to avoid the next bullet coming for him. He was shocked.
'Why was this happening to us?', he thought.
The men approached them holding knives, but before they could attack, Lena immediately lunged toward them. She attacked them with certainty, and she continued fighting them as though she was used to battling with trained men like them. He had never seen this side of Lena before. Her face is devoid of any emotion, and she moves like she's used to it.
The men were almost decimated to half when Lena ran back to him. He thought they would escape, but what Lena did shocked him. She shoved him hard enough to push him away without knocking him off. The words that she had uttered next shocked him more.
'Go now, escape; I don't need you anymore.', she said while looking at him cruelly.
A grotesque feeling emerges in him, a feeling that he never thought would creep in him when he's with Lena. Fear, he fears her now. This new cruel side of hers. Her new side that he'd never witnessed before. This new-found fear suddenly spread through his system like a wildfire, and before he knew it, he was slowly walking away from her. The human in him was still present—the human that yearns to live and to survive.
He doesn't understand any of this at all. He doesn't know why Lena was acting so scary or why these men are in their place. Gunshots rang through the air, and this propelled him to stride his way away from their place, but before he could run, he stopped when he realized something.
'What about Lena? What would happen to her if I leave her alone? ', he asked silently to himself.
Lena's cruel face flashed again, and the exact words resonated in his ears.
'Escape; I don't need you anymore.'
He looked back, and there he caught a glimpse of Lena while sparring the blow that the men gave her. For a moment, Lena caught his glimpse, and there he saw something that he had never seen before. It's in her eyes, but he wasn't certain what it was—was it fear? longing? sadness? disappointment? He surely doesn't know, and before he could comprehend, his instinct took over.
He escaped. He ran away from her. He deserted the thing that prevented him from plunging into the depths of darkness.
She wouldn't reprimand him anymore whenever he's being careless.
She wouldn't tease him anymore about his unusual name.
She wouldn't laugh before he got to his punchline.
She wouldn't talk to him about their impossible dreams.
She is gone, and there's nothing that he can do to bring her back.
A sudden gust of wind blew over the enormous tree. Several leaves fell, and tears trickled down his cheeks. The whole sky wept with him.
The first picture was edited in Canva while the rest were from Pexels or taken by yours truly, ridgette.