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FOURTEEN

"That wasn't okay."

"I know."

"But you sound okay with it."

"I'm not."

Kiara fell quiet for a moment, resting her back against the cold metal of the bench we sat upon. Both of our hands had tucked into our coats, and our eyes sunk to the frozen ground, mindlessly staring at each brick spaced between us. The air hissed and ruffled against our skin, sending tingles of discomfort at our fingertips and reaching around the bone that hid beneath it. Though our thoughts seemed to direct elsewhere; the last hour rattled us more than we expected. Though it seemed as though Kiara felt the worst of it.

"Have you given him stuff before?"

I answered without much of a reaction. "This is the third time."

"Sounds like it," Kiara snorted, grinding her teeth against her bottom lip. "But is this not bothersome to you? Out of every person in this town... he sought you out." She shook her head as if disappointed. "I may not know better, but I think that's called stalking, Ezra."

"He's only looking for me because I'm the only one here who was willing to give him a chance."

"Is that it?" Kiara wondered aloud as she leaned forward. "I get that you're mommy's sweetheart and all, but he's not just a person you just trust on the first day. He's a beggar, not your friend, not family-"

"He's hurting, Kiara."

"So are you!" she growled. "And you're letting his sob story exploit that. He's just going to expect that every time you walk out those gates, that you're going to help him for no gain."

"Isn't that the reason we're here?" I retorted, turning to her. Kiara scoffed.

"We're here to save everyone from threats beyond our control," she hissed. "This is one of them."

"Squeaky didn't pose a threat. He was just hungry."

"He didn't care what you were doing, he invaded our conversation begging for money from you!"

I sighed, drawing my hands out and setting my elbows on both knees. Kiara looked at me, narrowing her brown eyes while the wind tossed her hair across her face. "You don't see anything wrong there?"

"I gave the food to him willingly," I rebutted. "I just think he didn't know any better."

"W-Why are you still brushing this off? Are you okay with this?"

"I'm not!" Came my weak excuse of an answer. "I'm not. I just..."

I trailed off, clamping my, now exposed hands, together to feel the skin graze against each other. "I just... I let my mind slip. I stopped thinking about myself, again. Because that's all I'm ever good at. Besides, there's... nothing to accuse him for even if we tried. "

Kiara looked away a second time, sucking air between the spaces of her teeth. She leaned back into the bench's spinal frame, stared deep into the distant horizon of a coming darkness and exhaled.

"Ezra," she began again, softer this time. "I don't want you to run yourself into the ground this soon. Not when you have so much left to give. You're like a parental dinosaur or something. First to kill, last to eat. I mean, yeah, the academy awards servant leadership... but this is too much. You're not even twenty-two yet, you're too young to put yourself into so much responsibility; it's killing you."

Still, nothing was said, not in response. My hands tucked back into my jacket pocket, and a somber, yet annoyed, breath pushed through my nostrils once she finished. She tilted her head to me, trying to sneak into my line of sight.