• BURN ME •

• 30

The Darker The Weather // The Better The Man

~MISSIO

Flame

I carry Snow to my hotel room in silence. I see Nacho sticking his head out of his room in confusion. He frowns when he sees me. It's clear to me that he wants to know why, I went alone. But first, Snow needs me. As I enter the room, I kick the door shut behind us. I sit Snow down on the bed and look at him. He looks completely worn out. Damn, at the sight, something inside me tightens. I kneel in front of him and look at him. Snow stays quiet for a moment before he sighs deeply. "Can I take a shower?" He asks me quietly. I answer his question with a nod. "Sure, but I can leave you alone, right?" I ask worriedly. He looks at me seriously. "I'm not going to kill myself because of that asshole...don't worry." He says and then stands up, without saying anything else he disappears into the bathroom. I, on the other hand, stand up and leave the room, Nacho and Draven are already standing in the hallway. Nacho shakes his head in incomprehension, "Do you always do what you're not supposed to? Damn Flame...this city is a dangerous place for us. Is everything okay with the little one?" He asks, I nod, "I know you don't have to tell me that. But I wanted to find him alone, he's doing fine so far. Will you both please stay in the background?" I say, they both nod and disappear back into their rooms. Because they both know that it's pointless to talk to me.

The shower is still running after almost an hour, I'm starting to worry. I keep my eyes fixed on the bathroom door while I try not to get too comfortable on the bed. In case something should happen to Snow, at the moment I want to get up to check on him. The shower water is turned off, Snow comes out of the bathroom with wet hair and only in boxer shorts. He looks at me, "do you have a shirt I can borrow?" He asks, I nod silently towards my bag. He pulls a shirt out of it after putting it on. I realize again how differently we are both built, because my shirt is much too big for him. But damn, he looks so good in it, I push the thought away again as Snow comes to the bed and sits down on it. He is so far away, I silently pull him closer to me. Until he lays his head on my chest and looks at me, "Are you feeling a bit better?" I ask him, he nods. "Yes... after the shower everything is better, I no longer feel dirty. Because he touched me..." he whispers quietly. I nod and put my arm around him so that I can touch his thigh. On which I make little drawings with my thumb, "Ryder was his dealer..." Snow says even more quietly. He continues to look at me, "You don't have to explain it to me if you don't want to. I know what it's like to carry something like that around with you, I've never told anyone what happened before. Not even Sophia knows the whole story..." I explain to him, Snow nods silently.

"I was eleven or twelve years old, my mother and I were on our way to a football game that I wanted to see, our car broke down. Instead of the tow truck, another group came, but they didn't stop to help." I say, Snow nods and puts his arms around me. I'm really not used to being so close, but it feels good. "I know now that the guys were former members of the SDK. They had already threatened my father that they would do something to us. But he didn't do anything, they dragged my mother and me into a van. We couldn't defend ourselves against a group of six, I screamed. Until one of the guys knocked me out, you know, they didn't even bother to hide their faces. They wanted to kill us, that was clear to me and my mother. But she still tried to get me out of it somehow, with everything she could give." I whisper, remembering how my mother was on her knees begging them not to do anything to me. And even offered herself to the leader just so they wouldn't do anything to me, I feel sick. Snow doesn't say anything, but I know he's listening to me. "I woke up with a laceration in a dirty warehouse, tied up, and I just noticed how my mother tried absolutely everything to get me out of the noose. She even offered herself to the leader of those bastards. He just grinned like an idiot because he knew that... that they all wanted to do it anyway. My mother fought back against the first two, I saw her die more than once that day. They cut the clothes off her body... And they didn't care if they hurt her skin. I can still hear the table squeaking and her screaming, it was horrible." I say, feeling Snow snuggle up to me even closer. "I saw in her eyes how she lost her dignity after they were finished. All six of them laughed, they stabbed her six times. She slowly bled to death, they stabbed me too. We were both bleeding, but my mother dragged herself to me. And let me go, I wanted to help her. But she begged me to run out of the hall because the guys had set fire to the warehouse." Snow looks at me and his eyebrows knit sadly.