The rain poured down on the ground, like the tears of the crying heavens, breaking the heart of the earth, and melting it to mud. Even the trees cried with their brothers and sisters, the grass, plants and shrubs all around. But the proof of their mourning in the disintegrated bodies of the clouds, their laments carried far away in the wind, who herself was drowning in sorrow.

She sat on the solitary clearing, thoughts flying through her head unpleasantly. She lay back on the soggy ground, with no care of getting dirty. Who would ever understand… her problems, her dilemmas… nobody…

The gates creaked, half-open. A solemn figure stood outside like a statue created by the hands of a muse, a sequestrate expression settled peacefully into a face so dear and yet so full of innocent hatred. His eyes were clear, yet confused. The clear waters rained down upon him like the muddy tide of an abandoned river. He held a gun in his still hands. He pushed the gates open effortlessly. Looking at his face, one would never be able to tell what he was about to do. He looked so innocent, even through the ice-cold fires of hatred that burned in his sorrowful red eyes. His footsteps made little sound, muffled to a near quietness by the rain.

He walked in with a silent, yet swift pace, even with the injuries on him, on the inside of him. He thought of his sister. He thought of his parents. He thought of his home. He thought of everything he had lost in that single moment. Because of her… she had put him in a state worse than death with her sugarcoated ideas and false principles…

He stopped short in his tracks, his trail of thought disrupted. He narrowed his eyes so menacingly fear herself would have cowered. There she was, lying so serenely like one who had died with neither desires or unfulfilled responsibilities. That isn't going to happen, he told himself. He would not let her die in peace. Never… he would torture her till her dying breath, and even after that… he would destroy her.

She heard the slight sound of a gun being loaded. She got up slowly, expressionless. The rain washed the mud off her neck and shoulders, and the roots of her hair, leaving them glossier and smoother than alabaster. She turned her eyes upon him, and saw the hatred in his eyes, the desire for revenge, yet searched him sill for that spot of hidden sanity.

He poured out his anger silently. A sudden thought of no relevance, a thought of mercy, and compassion, drifted into his brain. He shook it off. It was impossible to forgive her. How then would he avenge his family, how would he make her pay the price for destroying him? No, he had to eliminate her. There was no other way.

"So you've got through to me, then. At last,-"

"Shut up! Just shut up already…"

"lost for words, are you? I'll say my part for the last time. I had no role or anything to do with the death of your family members. However, I have become myself, a walking shroud. So shoot me anyway if you want. I don't care anymore."

His hands shook, as he held the gun straight at her, between the eyes. She stared at him solemnly, without even a flinch or the blink of an eye. Her honeycomb eyes penetrated the façade of evilness that wrapped itself around him.

"T-today … t-today is th-the day I give my sister's soul the peace it deserves. Because today… is the day you die."

He made to fire at her, but shot into the air instead. Simultaneously the next eleven shots he released into the air. The empty cartridge dropped to the ground, mud splattering from the spot it hit. His fringe covered his eyes closely, sticking to his eyelashes.

He turned and paused, his hand falling limp to his side. He turned his head a little and said in a soft voice,

"You're lucky. I change my mind for today. But the next time I see you… there won't be a next time."

She stood still, looking at the shadowy figure of her assassin disappearing into the heart of the maze of forestry, and sighed. The world was so difficult to comprehend… who knows what might happen next…

The distance between them grew. She looked down on the bullets of rain hitting the bloodied bosom of the earth, and saw his gun lying there. She picked it up and cradled it carefully and gently in her hands.

"Farewell…"

And so ended another goodbye…