Our Long Lost Souls

One

He was standing there, under the streetlight outside the local café as agreed. Hood pulled over his head and earphones in; he was oblivious to the world.

She was standing across the road, observing. Looking at her phone she checked the time. 17:00 'Punctual' she thought. Peering back at the boy bobbing his head to a tune only he could hear, she took a deep breath.

Walking over to him she noticed blond tuffs of hair sticking out of his hood; a striking difference to her own dark brown hair. Cautiously, she tapped on his shoulder. Ripped out of his daydream he looked down at her with wide eyes.
     "You're Chris, right?" She asked when he took out his earphones.
     "Yeah. And you must be Annika?" He replied.
Annika nodded her head as Chris continued to stare at her.
     "Umm. . . Do you want to go in?" She said, motioning to the café.
    "Uhh, sure." Chris walked forward to the door and opened it wide for her to enter first.

They sat opposite from each other in a booth in the far corner of the café. Sipping her coffee, she had a proper look at him while he drank his tea. His blond, short hair was styled messily allowing it to fall over his eyes, his sharp green eyes. Chris looked up from his mug and caught her eyes with his until Annika blushed and lowered her gaze.

An awkward air settled between them as they fiddled with their mugs, unsure of how to start the conversation that clouded their minds.
     "So," Chris cleared his throat "you wanted to talk about Cara?"
'Odd' she thought, 'not mother or mum'. "Yes." she looked back up to him nervously. "Cara wanted me to talk to you in person about her. . . -" she paused, looking for an appropriate word choice. "- condition."
His eyes narrowed at the wording. "What do you mean by 'condition'?" he sneered "She was as happy as with her new fella to notice me all those years ago. I bet it was a real chore when she rang me so what's her sudden interest now?" Chris asked in an arrogant tone, rather harshly in fact. It made Annika flinch.
     "Your mother-" a glare stopped her in her tracks. "-Cara," She began again "was inflicted with a brain tumour when she was h-hit over the head with an unopened b-bottle of wine and s-she-"
     "Wait, what?!"
     "Oh, didn't you know?" Her tone quickly turned snarky in defence of her friend. "That new fella as you delicately put it has been abusing her for years! I had an idea when I first met her two years ago but wasn't proven correct until a few months afterwards." when Chris made no movement to intervene she continued. "I mean, it's not as if she didn't try calling you every weekend. I guess you were just too busy to talk or to even text back." Annika glared at Chris as he lowered his head in shame.
     "S-she always seemedso happy on the phone. . ." he whispered, his voice no longer holding the arrogance it did earlier. 'When you picked up' the voice inside of her remarked. "B-but why didn't she say anything?" Her gaze softened when his voice broke in despair and his eyes shrouded in mist.
     "When I found out by chance a few months after I moved in next to her I was by my bedroom window when he started to b-beat her. Now I know why the blinds of that room were always lowered." she added silently.
     "And now? W-what's her. . . condition?" he fell back onto the word choice she had used earlier as he lifted his mist-filled eyes to hers. Annika sighed through her nose as the words catched in her throat. "Annika?"
     "T-there's is why I contacted you." she chocked out. She could feel tears gathering I'm her eyes when she blinked them away furiously. "Y-your mother, Cara, my friend, sh-she died." she stuttered with warm tears falling down her face. She looked towards Chris whose skin had paled with his own tears streaking his face. Annika felt her bottom lip begin to tremble as she rambled on. "S-she died b-because I didn't p-push her to s-say anything! S-she d-died because I couldn't get there f-fast enough t-to stop h-him from h-hurting her." she was hyperventilating now, she could feel it. "I c-couldn't save her and h-he didn't e-even care he just laughed!" She was crying into her hands when she felt movement from her side and an arm wrap around her waist. Chris had watched her break down over her mother's death. He got up from where he was seated and came to her side, rolling her into his chest while he murmured soothing words into her ear.

A few minutes later Annika started to hiccup, an outcome of dried tears that can no longer fall.
     "We'll get through this, together." he whispered into her ear. She bobbed her head in agreement. Eyes red-rimmed, they stared at the table top in a daze when Annika finally whispered "Together."

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Note: Annika and Chris are the same age. When it says Cara is Annika's friend it means Cara was like mentor that helped Annika get through life despite what hardships she was facing herself.