The Melody of Pip Winter

30: Consolation

(TRIGGER WARNING: talks of sexual abuse and suicide)

"Dinner is served."
Clarissa had said in her soft voice that fermented with time and whatever secrets were festering. Leo was still yet to return which only fuelled the worry in Pip's stomach. He had sat and listened to Clarissa rant about the condiments she disliked, which lasted surprisingly long considering the topic. Their conversation had sparked an interest in Pip when the women had started to show him photographs of Leo as a child.

His face was soft and consumed by youth and his usual beaming nature. Pip felt himself smile and analyse the picture over and over again.

He helped the women set the table and once this task was completed Pip explained he was going to grab Leo from outside.

Pip walked a little awkwardly towards the porch. Leo was stood against a white railing with a cigarette lit in his hand. His face was hollow and void of emotion. He looked terribly afraid and Pip couldn't stomach it.

"Shouldn't you be further away? Isn't second hand smoke a slow killer?" Leo asked, but he did not turn to face him.

Pip did not really care about second hand smoke, not at that moment anyway. He urged himself forward.

"Dinners ready." Pip told him.

Leo was preparing himself for something but Pip couldn't begin to guess what. The other boy stubbed his cigarette. Pip felt fear tiptoe up his back and worry drain his mouth.

"My father raped me." Leo said flatly. The boy stared into the distance unable to meet Pip's gaze.

Disgust and sadness chortled in Pip's stomach. He could not stand the idea of Leo being exposed to someone who didn't see Leo the same way Pip did. How could someone harm someone so beautiful, so kind, so caring so unbelievably extraordinary.

Pip didn't know what to do. So, he just wrapped his tremoring arms around the other boy and let his sadness seep through skin. Leo quaked in his arms and released hiccup filled sobs. Pip just held him tighter and smoothed his back. The boys head rested in the crook of his neck.

"Did you know there's a company that turns dead bodies into ocean reefs." Pip whispered into Leo's ear.

Leo chuckled through his cries, the sound was sort of poignantly beautiful. his warm and smoky breath tickled Pip.

"You're so weird." Leo mumbled.

It could of been hours of them wrapped together, soaked in the night. Eventually they unraveled themselves. Leo's eyes were red but he was still smiling, some things never change.

"She knew,"

Pip wiped one of the tears off Leo's cheek.

"She knew the whole time, but she loved him more than she could ever possibly love anyone else." Leo explained, his voice barren with only a hint of the sorrow he had exposed to the world.

"And then he got arrested for petty theft and she hated me, she told me it was my fault and every day I was just met with her hatful glare."

"I just left." Leo let the sweet air into his nose and took Pip's limp hand.

"That night you talked about, what happened?" Pip asked, a little cautious.

Leo swallowed before rehashing on the daunting details.

"I was going to kill myself, but Murphy found me." It was blunt and clearly an attempt to get the memory out of his throat as quickly as possibly.