You lovelies. :)
Her soft gasps in his ear teased him, completed him, ruined him. She screamed aloud, as did he, before they froze. Neither wanted to make the first move; the first move of their end. In the end, he decided it should be him and he removed himself from her body. She let out a soft gasp of a different kind now, the one that felt an immediate brush of freezing air on her body, a gasp that was realisation that was that portion of her life over.
He sighed heartedly before reaching for her hand, pulling her to her feet. He reached for her shirt next to the bed and put it over her head, while she stared through teary eyes into his. His hands fumbled as he reached for her arms, putting them through the holes of her top. She remained unmoving, ghostlike.
"Aria; this is hard enough, please-" he stopped when she wailed loudly and put her face to his chest. He pulled her to him, she still remained unmoving. Then she dropped to a crouch, collecting the rest of her clothes from the floor. She put on her knickers and put everything else in her handbag.
"It's cold love, please put those pants on," he pleaded as she put them in her bag. She slipped on her shoes, all while not speaking, then went for the door.
He got it, the intimate act they had just shared was their goodbye; a silent agreement which they would now follow if it killed them. Silently, without looking back, Aria opened his front door. She paused for only a second, before walking through it, closing it loudly behind her. He turned and sat on the edge of his bed, staring helplessly across it. He didn't expect to sleep that night.
Months later
"Ezra," a woman spoke with determination.
He froze in his shoes, pushing the phone closer to his ear, "Ella?" he asked, knowing full well it was her. Panic set in. "Is Aria okay?" he asked without hesitation.
"No Ezra, she's not. It's been months, as I'm sure you're full aware. She doesn't leave her room, but it's more than that. She doesn't leave her bed, Ezra. When we see her, it's to get food and water. She showers maybe once a week and has no desire to leave the house, progress. She has depression."
Her conclusive sentence immediately led to him blaming himself simultaneously while his heart broke.
"Since you left, Ezra, this has been her. No variation, no light, just going through those motions I've just told you. She no longer reads or writes even, she just is," she concluded. "I need you to come see her. I have no other ideas," she pleaded.
He hung up his phone at those words and sat in his chair. Malcolm came to him.
"You look sick, dad. Bad tummy?" he asked innocently.
"Yeah bud, bad tummy. Can you get me a water?" he asked, tapping his shoulder softly, prompting Malcolm to immediately jump to the request.
Ezra remained there for an hour, talking himself into visiting her, knowing well he would again have to leave her. It was about 5pm when he set off on the hour drive to the Montgomery house.
"I knew you'd come. I knew you loved her too much not to try," Ella greeted, wrapping her arms around him as he hugged her back. "You know where to go," she gestured upwards towards the stairs. He blankly commenced the ascend, still unsure what he was going to say.
He knocked on her door. When only silence surrounded him instead of response, he pushed open her door. She had one eye visible from under her doona.
"Oh Christ, what are you doing here?" she spat, obvious to him the first thing she had said in a long time, as her voice was not her voice, but one of exhaustion and deep sadness. There was silent longing in the air, it could have been felt miles away.
Clearly not expecting that response, he remained pinned to the wall next to the door, having just closed it again. His heart broke all over again, severe, sharp pain-causing heartbreak as he stared at what he had done to her. Ella was right, there was no light, no willingness to do, anything.
Having no clue what to do, he went and sat next to her. After a few minutes, he felt her curl her body around him, her face along his outer thigh. He put his hand on her head, gently stroking her as he felt her body warm only slightly from the frozen girl he had initially walked in to see. He felt her take a huge, deep breath before nuzzling her face tighter to his body.
To be continued.