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“R...ain.”
She speaks suddenly, stopping in the middle of the road. It’s only a whisper, but no noise surrounds them besides the soft downpour of rain so it sounds louder than it should.
He stops walking and turns around noticing the few feet of distance between them. He tilts his head before looking up at the sky. Drop after drop of rain falls down and hits the top of his paper bag that rests on his head.
It is, in fact, raining.
When he looks back down she already found a bench off to the side to climb up on. He follows carefully. She huffs as she jumps and pulls herself up onto the bench. He does the same.
She stands mindlessly enjoying the rain as her yellow raincoat keeps her dry. Water landing on her shoulders and then effortlessly falling onto the ground. Her feet and legs are becoming soaked though. His trench coat does little to keep him both warm and dry but she’s survived much worse, so she can’t find it in herself to care that much.
He watches the sky for only a few minutes before he looks to her. It hits him then that neither of them have said a word to each other since they met a few days ago. Well, other than a few ‘heys’ and what she said a few minutes ago.
He feels the need to finally introduce himself, so he does.
“My name is Mono.” He whispers because anything louder could awaken the monsters that seek to harm them.
Her head snaps down from looking at the sky to look at him. fear flashes across her face as she frantically looks around to make sure that no one heard him. She sighs once no one seems to be close by before looking back to him. She offers him a puzzled look even if he can’t see it behind the darkness of her hood and short matted hair.
She knows she should probably respond with her own name but her tongue was never good at forming words. Her tongue always seemed against her in these situations.
Objectively, she knows how to say her name properly. She spent hours, days, weeks forcing her tongue to speak it properly. Every time it failed she would bite her tongue in hopes to learn a lesson. But it never worked.
Regardless, she tries anyways.
“S… eh… ss…” she speaks the letters like she’s sounding them out and even then her body fails her.
“Six?” He parrots as a question. “That’s your name?”
She nods and tries again. “Seh… cs…” she sighs at her second failed attempt.
X’s have never been her favourite letter. Well, most of the alphabet isn’t her favourite.
She huffs as she sits down beside him. She brings her legs up to her chest to rest her head on her knees. She turns her head so that she’s still facing him and lets a smile grace her face. It’s small and not visible but it’s there.
He giggles quietly and looks down at his feet, swaying them back and forth beneath him.
It’s peaceful for once. Quiet, safe almost. This is the first time they’ve just stopped running since they met. It’s relaxing in a way. Both just sitting and enjoying how the cold rain falls around them, neither minding the wetness and cold that seeps into their clothes.
Unfortunately, countless questions rack her brain. She wants to ask and receive answers, but she doesn’t know how. She wants her tongue to move normally so she can be curious and ask without fear of saying something wrong.
Which… is surprising because she’s never wanted to talk this much in her entire life. She thinks he’ll understand. She thinks he’ll understand when her tongue doesn’t follow what her brain and voice box desperately wants.
So she asks.
“Wha… whe… ie… ie,” she takes a breath as he looks to her. “Wh… ie… ba… ba… ga.” She points to his paper bag to further emphasize her question.
He raises a hand to his bag and questions her back. “My bag? Why do I wear it?”
She smiles. He understands her.
She nods and he shrugs as he begins his explanation. “I’m not sure. I guess I’ve never really liked my looks ,and it kakes me feel like a superhero.” He giggles again as he stims by shaking his head and swinging his feet.
“What about you?” He looks back to her, bag crinkling as he moves. “Why the raincoat?”
That’s an easy answer.
“Mo… ter.” She stops herself. She didn’t say it right again.
He doesn’t say anything. He waits for her to finish. Her eyes dart everywhere as she takes a breath and forces herself to continue.
“Mo… ter… ma… eh… it…” she tried. She really did but the words didn’t slip out easily at all. Her smile fades as she waits for him to mock her or walk away or something.
“Your mother made it?” He asks to her surprise. She nods slowly.
“That’s sweet.” He hums with a smile and starts to play with his fingers.
“I don’t remember my mothr, or my father: I bet they were cool though.” He happily fills the silence and she's surprised.
Surprised but not upset. Rather… giddy. She would be rather content to just listen to him for awhile but both of them know that noise means death in the world they live in.
“I think you’re pretty cool.” He speaks out of the blue. He reaches out and takes her hand just to play with her long thin fingers.
“E…lly?” She whispers more quietly than before. He nods.
“If we were superheroes, I think that we would be superhero partners!” he whisper yells and it has her shrinking in on herself but only for a second. He whispers an apology soon after before he explains further.
“You would be a superhero who’s super strong and smart and I would be able to control TVs and games and stuff! Digital stuff!” He talks as if he’s thought about this before this conversation and is so very sure of himself.
She finds it quite enjoyable to watch.
“I… L… L… ie… tat.” She comments softly.
With that he lets go of her hand and moves to carefully pull his bag off his head. She gasps and is quick to hide her face in her knees to protect his privacy.
“You really think so?” He speaks with a sort of hopefulness to him and moves his head so that he can see her face without the bag in his way. She only buries her face further in her knees.
He giggles. “It’s okay. I trust you.”
She snaps her head up to look at him with shock and she sees his face, his actual real face.
Shoulder length untamed fluffy brown hair is draped over his head. His eyes are a pale grey and when he smiles she can see the gap between his front teeth.
“Wh… whie…?” Is all she can ask.
His face switches to confusion. “Why do I trust you?” She nods.
“Well that’s easy. You’re my friend! That’s why.” He rolls his eyes like it’s obvious.
Never once in her life has someone openly with all their heart stated that she is someone’s friend. It’s new, not unwelcomed. It’s strange, not wrong. It’s weird, but okay.
Everything about this adventure with him is new and she doesn’t know how to handle anything. She’s afraid she’ll drop him. She’s afraid her emotions, hunger, will take over and he will not longer matter.
She’s afraid to loose him but she’s more afraid to loose herself.
She smiles at him regardless. It’s weak and there’s really not much behind it but it’s for the best. She needs to distance herself and move on.
Unfortunately, he’ll take the fall.
He smiles wide and opens his mouth to speak before thunder followed by a roar of something or someone forbids him to speak.
He snaps his mouth shut, quickly pulling his bag back over his head. She’s quick to jump off the bench and hide underneath it. He jumps as well but grabs her hand and runs the opposite direction of the noise. She lets herself be pulled and lets the familiar silence fall between them again.
Noise is what gets them killed.
Bonds is what makes her weak.
And betrayal is what gets him killed.