.Genderless.Episode.27.

A tap upon a curtained window.

Followed by movement.

Standing outside the window of Slitch’s  mobile home.

I smiled a little when she opened the window.

“Freak?” She asked in surprise and I nodded.

“The one and only.”

A witty response.

A frown was my reward.

“What are you doing here?”

I sighed a little.

“I’m taking a chance.”

She cocks her head in confusion. Fuck I loved it when she did that.

“What chance?”

I lean in and kiss her.

“I’m getting away. From here. From everything.”

I said that with a little more enthusiasm than I’d meant to.

Her frown only deepened.

“Why?”

She was scared.

Hurt?

I take a breath.

“Everything I’ve fought for has fallen apart. My home is gone. And the home I had to return to almost killed me. I want it all to stop. I want to be free again.”

I look at my feet.

“And I kinda wanted to escape here… with you…”

A blunt explanation.

A moment passed to let my words hang in the air in silence.

Then she started to quietly cry.

I try to kiss her shoulder but she pushes me away.

“Why can’t you just stay here?”

I close my eyes.

Looking at the situation for what it was.

“I can’t.” I finally reply.

She looks at me with tearstained eyes.

“You’re only fifteen… neither of us would last long out there.”

I stroke her cheek.

“They’re better chances than what I’m faced with here.”

She kisses my hand.

“I can’t.”

My heart cracks.

She sighs, “I have a place here. And you do too! You just have to find it.”

I bow my head.

“The thing is, I don’t want to find my place here anymore.”

She looks away.

“Then you’re going to have to find your place without me.”

My heart stops.

And the world around me begins to fade away.

“I can’t make you.”

Those words flow quietly from my lips.

“And I can’t make you stay.”

I stare at her, a tear slipping down my cheek.

“I’m going to miss you.”

She nods.

Silent.

“I…” I stop.

“I love you too.”

Those words…

I watch her bow her head once more, then close her window.

And I stand there for a good long while.

Before turning and walking away.

Leaving a trail of my shattered heart behind me.