We're both fidgety. Twitch, shuffle, staring at the door. "It's okay," Tiger tells me, sounding like she doesn't really believe it. I look at her and she looks so scared, so much more fragile than I've seen her. She looks like a lost child. "Please," she asks me. I know what she's asking for. "Love," I warn, stepping closer. Her eyes are swimming in water. "Please."
I hold the sides of her face, forcing her to look at me. Her skin feels unnaturally hot against my cold palms.
"Love."
"Please."
"Love."
The conversation continues like that, her asking and me saying the only word in my head.
She starts to break away from my grasp and I catch her by the wrist. "Please," the familiar word breaks the air again, but this time it's my voice. Please stay.
I draw us closer. It's the only thing I know to do, cradle Tiger in my arms and wait for demons to pass.
I pull her down and wrap carefully around her. We try to eachothers avoid landmines where angry red slashes sit. My arm gets bumped, bringing startled tears to my eyes but it doesn't matter.
One of us is crying. I don't know who. Maybe it's both of us.
"Shh, it's okay. It's okay, love. It'll be okay."
Words fade away, leaving the sound of breath and soft sniffles.
i won't let you say goodbye, and i'll be your reason why.
And by reading this, it feels like the very air burns and fills my (our?) lungs with the water of the past. I know exactly how this feels. It aches like nothing else.
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