Chapter 4: A message written in tears
The sun sizzled in the distance as it set into the earth, evaporating and dispersing in an array of orange and pink across the gently clouded sky. Advancing into the darkness of night, Sayaka aimlessly wandered the streets, taking little notice of the curious and sometimes concerned looks cast her direction as she shuffled by.
She remembered the touch of Hitomi’s hands upon her like a memory recalled from years ago. The same touch she had craved before more times than she could say had suddenly turned her stomach and chilled her the depths of her bones.
Why? She had asked for an explanation, had braced herself to hear that she was no longer loved, and had been offered only silence in return. It was cruel. Shaking her head ferociously, she swept past towering shadows that became solid as she carelessly shoved by them.
Was Hitomi’s love for her so little now that she would not even grant her the truth, in the end? Sayaka felt anger, betrayal, and longing in the depths of her heart, rising like the tide ever higher to submerge her in the depths of a body of emotion as unknown to her as the deepest parts of an ocean.
When had Sayaka become so frail and devastatingly vulnerable? Had she been all along? Hitomi had called her strong, admiration filling her enormous, beautiful brown eyes. Perhaps Sayaka had been only for the sake of love. Perhaps, without her, there was no longer any reason to be.
Sayaka stopped before a small home, no different at first glance than any other that lined the familiar street. She lifted swollen eyes to look upon it, knowing that an integral piece of her past and her heart resided within those walls as tangibly as Hitomi once had when they were small and nothing in the entire world seemed it could ever come between them.
Next door, a single light lit the solitary way to a place that was suddenly a future without the girl she loved more than anything. It was only ten, maybe fifteen steps away, yet she could not lift her feet to walk them. Rooted deeply there to that place in a way that was not at all physical, she crumpled to her knees, covering her face with both open, splayed hands.
“Who am I without you?” she whispered. Her breath quaked in her chest, tears spilling from her eyes, slipping between her fingers, and splashing upon the concrete like fat drops of rain in the spring. She reached out and touched the tip of her finger to the wet sidewalk below, tracing the words “I am nothing without you” across it as if her tears might dry as ink and remain to be seen.
Leaning over onto her side, she drew her knees to her chest and tucked her chin against them, curling her body protectively around the tear-soaked message. Closing her eyes, she shut out the light that called her home.
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So, pretty certain most of you at this point are thinking "Dude, this Sayaka chick is a
real downer. And she has some SERIOUS issues, too." Yeah, she is, and yeah, she does. But without her and her issues, what's going to happen in the story wouldn't happen! What's going to happen, you ask (or maybe you don't? But let's assume you ask because it's more fun for me that way)? I can't tell you that yet! Patience, readers. Patience.
Honestly, I just needed to goof around and be an idiot for a moment because writing this chapter took it all out of me.
Topic: Happily Ever After (8 Chapters) (Read 43838 times)