The Wind Blows

She was there against him, or at least for that moment when they had trailed back inside the house, through the dark, with the rain subsiding - back inside the walls of his childhood bedroom, careful not to wake anyone, where she let herself fall back into his arms one last time before morning rose. And when morning bared it's ugly face, the sheets were pulled up - the bed was made without the wrinkles of where she had laid next to him throughout the night, and nothing was ever like it was supposed to be.

No wrinkles - no warmth - nothing but a yellow note sitting atop the sunken pillow, with aching words written out in her handwriting, and her name signed in the bottom corner, as if he'd never know who the letter was from unless it was marked.

He laid amongst the cold sheets, rubbing at his scratchy eyes, as he stared up into the gray ceiling that hung above his head. He wasn't sure why the sun was shining so bright, or why the skies were such a beautiful shade of blue, when everything about his insides screamed the deepest, and darkest part of emptiness. Nothing right then made any sense to him, and everything was hurting inside his chest, as he rolled over, and snatched the crisp letter from the pillows cotton surface.

He sat up, pushing himself from the blankets beneath where he was lying, as he ran a hand through his greasy hair, shoving it from around the contours of his face as he tried to focus his stale green eyes on the square paper that was settled between his calloused finger tips. He tried to blink away the blurry saline from his heavy orbs, and swallow the burning bitter taste that was corroding the insides of his mouth as he followed the words across the page.

By now, you're probably sitting on your bed, and wondering why I had to leave without saying goodbye. I really wish I had a good answer to that. We weren't supposed to end this way, but I have to let us go.. It's something I've done that's put me in this position, and place where I can't let myself hurt you any longer, and I'm so sorry. You're asleep right now, and I wish I could wake you. I wish I had the heart to tell you everything that I've left out. I don't know, maybe one day we'll find each other in a better place. And I can only hope that you'll love me just as much then as you do now. God I can only hope that you'll forgive me for everything that I've put you through, because you deserve so much better than anything that I've ever had to offer. I wish I could stay. I wish I could live a life with you one day, in a house by the ocean, and the sand between our toes, just like we talked, and dreamed about every night. But this guilt is tearing me apart, and I'm so sorry. I have to go now before I tell myself to stay, because it's becoming harder with every word that I write down. And I will always love you.

You'll always be the best part of me.
Anna

Dani sat at the table for two, as she lazily stirred the vanilla cream into her coffee, watching the substance dissolve, turning the black liquid into a lighter shade of brown. There was muffled noises surrounding her existence - the sound of people talking amongst themselves, and music faintly humming in the background of it all - but all she could hear was silence as she felt someone quickly kiss the side of her face, as they rushed by, before placing a seat in the chair facing her from across the small round table.

He leaned forward, across the table's flat surface - slightly out of breath, and trying to catch it before he spoke an apology for not being there sooner.

"Sorry I'm late, I couldn't catch a break until the rest of the guys called it quits for the day."

He ran a few loose fingers through the ends of his unkept hair, before gazing over at the girl who appeared drained, and out of sorts. Her eyes seemed heavy, and dark - lacking rest, while her messy hair was tossed atop her head, with a few loose strands hanging around her neck, and face.

He reached forward, grazing his rough fingertips overtop of her hand, as he softly called out her name in nearly a whisper, "Dani."

She peered up from her cup of coffee, letting her sunken eyes look to him as his thumb rubbed circles into the soft skin along the back of her palm.

"Are you feeling alright," he spoke softly, noticing the lack of sleep drowning her entire lifeless appearance.

She shrugged her shoulders, watching the sadness reel in his mint green specks, as his fingers found there way around her fragile hand from across the table. She could see the disappointment roll off of his shoulders - disappointment of not being able to comfort her the way he wanted. She could see the frustration building from the way he rolled his lips together - the realization that he had no control over something so simple as her lack of sleep, and the things that haunted her in her dreams whenever she would close her eyes at night.

"I'll be fine John. I just need some rest." She reassured him, as she forced a faint smile to seal her untruthful words. But she knew he wasn't buying any parts of the fake smirk on her pink lips, and the sugar coated words that were leaving her tongue.

"I think you're a terrible lier."

He looked at her with a smile on his lips, and slight hint of humor set in his words, as he peered over at the blushing girl.

She smiled weakly, as a sigh of exhaustion left her lips, and her eyes watched the way his fingers weaved their way through her own from across the table, "Yeah, I know."

His scratchy eyes were heavy to hold open, as he took another sip from the bottle that was settled in the palm of his hand. The bitter substance burned as it rushed down his raw throat, but he didn't care. He was surrounded by friends - faces he knew, that were familiar to him in some sense, but he didn't give a fuck. He didn't care, because right then he couldn't seem to muster enough strength to peel his dry red eyes from the silhouette that lingered aimlessly across the congested room, with a slight smile on her soft lips. And at this point he was trying his hardest not to show the look of pure heartache, that was already beginning to stain his sadden face.

He fell forward, falling slightly off balanced, as a slap was placed to the mid section of his back from behind.

"You alright man?"

"What's she doing here?" John snickered bitterly through his clenched teeth, as Jared's eyes followed John's path to the girl that stood from across the crowded room, with a small smile lighting up her porcelain skin.

"I 'm not sure," he shrugged his shoulder, before he turned back to his friend who was in need of some much needed help, "Dani must of brought her."

He watched as John took the last sip of beer from the glass bottle, before setting it aside, and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"I think I'm going to get some fresh air." John announced with a sigh pressing past his lips, before excusing himself, drunkenly stumbling through the cluster of people to somehow escape the loud obscene music, and sickening smell of booze that was causing his head to spin, and his insides to churn nauseously.

His knees felt weak, and his whole body was shaking - on the verge of falling apart, and all he wanted was to escape the walls that were suffocating his lungs at this point. And so that's just what he did as he stepped a foot out onto the back porch with a cigarette already resting between his thin lips, and his lighter already in hand.

He lit the skinny white stick, before gradually blowing the gray smoke into the sticky night air, as his half lidded eyes peered up into the full moon that hung lullingly over his head. He walked a little further, before placing a seat on the edge of the porch step, as he took another long drag - letting the smoke fill his lungs, before releasing it once more through his parted pink lips.

He felt his eyes close, and then open to peer out into the midst of the thick darkness that overtook his surroundings. He needed that sense that everything would somehow manage to fall back into place, but at this point it seemed to be a lost cause, and out of reach - floating further away from his view with every step he took forward, and every minute that flashed past his droopy eyes.

And as he took one last drag from the cigarette that hung loosely from his lips, and somehow managed to stand on the forms of his unstable feet, his lifeless eyes glanced back through the glass door, where everyone stood amongst themselves talking, and reminiscing - with drinks in their hands, and smiles on their faces, but only one seemed to stand out, and she wasn't standing alone.

He had his hands on her hips, and she was laughing at the things that were being whispered into the hollow of her ear by the guy who's body was nearly attached to the form of hers. She was loving every minute of it, and by the look on her face she wasn't planning on any of it to stop anytime soon, not then - not tonight.

And in that moment it was becoming nearly unbearable to watch through slightly foggy glass, as things began to spin in circles within John's toxic thoughts. His mind was nowhere to be found as he stomped on the white bud, that he had flicked to the ground, with the heal of his shoe, before his feet began to take their steps forward.

He wasn't sure how this was going to end, or what exactly he was headed to do. His blood was boiling, and his fingers were curled into fist as he marched over to where she stood with the mans lips still attached to her ear, and her teeth still biting at the skin along her lip, almost like she wanted this.

But everything stood still in that moment as John reached forward, peeling the strangers lips from her skin, and his hands from her hips. There was nothing but anger in his sunken eyes, as he made a quick glance over at the girl who begging him to stop.

"John, please don't." Her shaky voice called out to him, but his mind was no longer able to process the softness of her voice, and the weight of her words.

The guy rose to his feet with his hand pressed over his nose, checking for any signs of blood from the punch that John had thrown against him just moments before. And like every fight, a crowd of people had gathered around the three in hopes of seeing something that was bound to get out of control at one point, or another - or so they thought.

"Who the fuck are you?" The guy spoke bitterly, as his eyes shifted from Anna to John in a split moment, before he took a step closer.

But John was only looking at Anna with pleading eyes, and his hand somehow gripping the upper part of her arm.

"Why are you doing this?" He hissed through gritted teeth, as she struggled to set herself free from the grip he held, "I love you, and you - you just left - you left me. You fucking left, now what am I supposed to do? What do you expect me to do, just fucking forget everything - to forget you?"

His words were strained as they left his lips. He felt numb, and could feel himself falling into pieces, with the room silenced from any commotion that had occurred moments before. She peered up at him, something washing over her eyes that he'd never seen before as she whispered, "I can't do this anymore."

And that's when he heard it in her voice, a rush of regret washing over her words, and crashing in his face like a piece of metal, or a brick smashing his heart. His fingers slipped from her arm, as he stood in silence, continuing to gaze at her, with a haze clouding his vision, and a bitter taste corroding his mouth.

All eyes were focused on them, but all he could see was her - all he could see was someone he no longer knew as a person standing in front of him. She'd suddenly become a stranger in his eyes, and there was nothing that would change her mind, and there was nothing that he could do to bring her back to him - back into his life.

"It's funny how you can see the stars so much better out here," she titled her head slightly to the left in order to receive a different perspective, "or maybe I've just never really paid attention to them."

His green eyes were on her, with a smile tattooed on his thin lips, carefully observing the way she tried counting the vibrant stars with one eye barely closed, and the other one open to see the tiny bulbs clearly.

"You can miss a lot when you're trapped under those harsh city lights every night, you know?"

Her pale eyes faded over to him, and she watched a smug smile curl on the ends of his mouth. She chuckled lightly, and meekly shrugged her shoulders in defense, "Yeah, I guess. "

A childish laugh pressed past his lips, as he shook his head vaguely, and tried to word his thoughts just perfectly before he spoke, "I'm just saying, this is only the tip of the iceberg sweetheart," he leaned over so that his lips were merely puckering distance from her ear - a little closer so that the warmth of his breath struck her skin when he spoke, and his arm was touching hers, "You deserve to see so much more, because this world can be a beautiful place when you take the time to see it, without all of the chaos, and distractions."

She felt herself shiver faintly at the mere thought, as her hands pushed herself from the bed of his truck - letting her ripped up shoes hit the dirt below, before he was able to creep any closer. She managed to brush off the back of her shorts with the palm of her hands, before gazing back up into the darkness that clouded them in between.

"So what are you saying," her eyes fell back up into his through the eerie haze that filled the gap between their line of vision, "you wanna take me places, or is this just your way of trying to get into my pants again?"

He threw his head back as a profound laugh slipped past his tongue, and the sole of his boots hit the ground with a thud, before they led him a little closer to where she stood, with a smirk on her soft lips, and her arms casually crossed over her chest.

"Well I don't know, which am I more capable of getting away with?"

His hands extended forward - reaching out towards her small frame, before finding their way around her waist, with his long fingers gripping the threads along her hips, as she peered up at him under thick lashes, and a look of innocence washing over her face in the light of the moon that hung above them.

She licked her lips once, before shrugging her shoulders without much thought, "I wouldn't mind going to the ocean."

A vague laugh slipped past his lips, before they found their way against her forehead - pressing a subtle kiss into her warm skin, "That sounds great, and all, but what's at the ocean that can't be found here?"

"Everything," she stated without hesitation, as she let her head fall against the plains of his chest - leaning further into his body as his long arms wrapped their way around her shoulders to feel her presence, "I never got the chance to go when I was younger…Things just fell a part after our mom left, so Anna and I never got a chance to go on those family trips like all of our friends did every summer."

She let her fingers fold around the fabric and threads of his shirt, as the side of her face pressed deeper against his chest, and all she could hear was the sound of his heart racing through her ear, "I need to get away from here. I need to clear my head, because right now I'm so scared of what will happen if I don't."

"You should know that you deserve so much more than what your family has put you through. And I'm so sorry, I - I just wish I could've known before now."

She shrugged her shoulders in a weak manner against the comfort of his embrace, "It doesn't bother me as much as it used to. I guess it's made me, a better me in the process, and I've learned to accept everything, and move on with my life..I mean at least until Anna died - and now it's like I'm stuck again."

She closed her eyes, and relaxed into the feel of her body swaying from one side to the other with his - like there was music playing, but there wasn't. And all that could be heard was the hum of the wind rushing past them, and through the thick Arizona air. And just as he pressed his thin lips into the side of her face, her eyes made a trail up into his, with a questionable expression fading across her face in the softness of the moonlight, "So, will you take me to the ocean?"

He pushed his lips to the tip of her nose, with a smile that only got brighter from sound of her words, "I'll take you anywhere you want to go, as long as its with me - I'll take you anywhere. "