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When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears.

When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears.

And I held your hand through all of these years.

But you still have all of me

 -My Immortal, Evanescence.

 

Scarlet colors had become Zoey's favorite with metallic blades dancing across the soft touch of skin on her wrists the last few weeks of summer. She was a puzzle I had spent all my life trying to solve, yet every time I believed I had every piece figured out, she'd throw in another and scramble up the pieces.

Zoey's window to her room was slightly cracked, music flowing through towards where I stood in front of her house. I couldn't understand the language, but listened for her voice as the wind picked up and blew my hair.

Zoey had the most amazing voice - that is when she allowed you to hear it. She and I had signed up for choir freshman year, but a week before classes were made final, she quit on me and I stood in choir beside strangers, instead of my best friend.

She was a shy girl, only ever speaking to me or her grandparents, of whom she moved in with recently. Both her parents had passed away in a car crash, leaving her with her aunt, but the woman refused to take her in.

After a few moments of her CD, the track finally ended, and Zoey poked her head out the window towards the west side of town. Her black hair was in its usual multicolor of blue and dark blue, her skin still the same pale olive color she was born with.

She wore a worn out, grey tee shirt, face pixie-like, blue eyes rimmed with black eyeliner. She wore her usual bored face, a face she used any time the clouds were grey and brought high chance of rain.

My voice was caught in my throat as I tried to say hello out to her, and maybe catch her before she caged herself back inside again, but all I could manage out was a squeak.

Fortunately, the sound caught her attention, and her eyes fell upon me as she turned her head in my direction. The smallest, cutest smile beamed on her lips as she frantically scrambled out of her window, feet finding a grip on the brick wall as she climbed down, scuffing her black skinny jeans.

Once the bottom flesh of her foot touched the dirt ground around her house, her body flung itself at me, and we fell onto the road as she buried her face in my shoulder. Her arms wound around me as she hugged me tight, same smile on her lips, but tears had adorned her eyes, and I wiped them away each time they fell.

Her fingers ran themselves through my own hair, the long strands of blonde that were striped with black. She played with them as I carried her in my arms to the park, setting down my bag beside the tree, before lying down in the grass.

Then the tears flowed and she buried her face into my shoulder, crying into it, water bleeding into my shirt as she finally let it all go. The pain of losing both her parents, and having to move into a new neighborhood plus the fear of being alone, finally surrendered and came out.

I caressed her gently, holding one arm around her waist to let her know I was there to be support. My fingers gently rubbed her wrists, the scars permanently left behind from so many days in the same rut.

She mumbled things I couldn't understand, hands balled in my shirt as I tried to listen and understand. Her pain made things hard to hear, and brought many more tears for hours to come.

By the time it became dark; she had finally calmed down and had fallen asleep in my lap as I leaned against the tree.

There were no street lights lit up where we stayed, together in the darkness of night. The stars glittered the dark abyss that made up the sky, each twinkling to one another.

As the breeze picked up again, I shivered slightly, shirt damp from Zoey's tears earlier, and clutched her closer to myself for protection. Her head rested on my shoulder, snores puppy quiet as her arms were wrapped lazily around my waist, barely gripping me as she slept.

She had been strong all through sophomore year when she heard the news. Shown up to class each day with the same goofy smile she always had. I knew once summer hit, the whole conflict would hit her hard, and it had.

It didn't help that the first three weeks of summer I was gone to summer camp. My parents hoped the camp would bring me back a stronger kid, and thanks to them, it had. It fixed me in more ways than one.

I had become a difficult child during eighth grade, always disobedient, always picking fights. I could never just stand my ground and ignore the comments girls said behind my back. Could never just blow them off my shoulder like they were dust or dirt.

The rumors just kept spreading through the cheerleader's mouths and every day, they'd laugh and mock me. They didn't like the way I dressed, or the way I spoke. But the one thing that started the lies, and the rumors; the laughs in the hallway with each person I passed by, was Zoey.

After her parents had passed away, my best friend had become more and more attached to me like a wounded puppy, always by my side, always with me. Everyone began to call us an undead couple. Guess they found it funnier that way, since both Zoey and I were dressed in dark clothes each day, and wore dark makeup. It was just a style we both had gotten into as young adults, and it was something we both loved to match in.

At the end of the school year the principle threatened to not allow me back as a junior if I didn't get my attitude in shape over the summer, so both my parents shipped me off to summer camp, hoping and praying I'd return back a better child.

Some time while I held Zoey, she stirred awake, rubbing her bloodshot eyes with the back of her hand, yawning. Her blue eyes fell upon me innocently as she fixed herself in my lap, sitting in it and leaning her back into my chest.

My arm wrapped around her protectively as my other one dragged my bag to us and I handed her a swirly straw with a juice box. The corner of her lip perked up as she poked it in and drank, relaxing into the form of my body as we rested against the tree.

As the breeze blew and picked up, I managed to catch the slightest hint of her lotion, coconut and mango before it was diluted by the wind. I smiled softly to myself as I closed my eyes, resting it on the bark, taking a deep breath.

"It's chilly out," Zoey's quietly spoke up, looking up at me again.

I nodded slowly, rocking her, "It is. I have a little blanket with me. So no worries."

Silence or what was close to it with the cars that drove by and the people who paid little attention to us, allowed came like a friend.  

Zoey finished off her juice box, sighing contently as she snuggled more into me. Her skin was always cold, no matter what season, but her heart was always warm, always caring. I gently took her hands, rubbing them with my thumb as her tiny fingers wound around my hand and I smiled softly.

"We should get you back to your grandparents," I packed up her empty box and straw, seeing her sigh and nod a little.

She squeezed my hand tightly as I helped her up, and she cuddled into me again, "I don't want to leave you..."

Loneliness clung to her voice, pain in her stare as her eyes flickered back and forth with mine. My heart throbbed whenever she looked at me that way, and it ached whenever I had to say that I needed to leave. But standing with her there alone in the dark, I couldn't help but feet another longing in her voice that told me another emotion was in her voice when she spoke those words.

Her grip came hard onto my hand again and she pouted her perfect lips, batting her eyelashes as she clung to me. With each act she pulled, my heart kept cracking, bleeding on the inside as I bit my lip.

"I...I guess you could stay at my house tonight. We'll have to call your grandparents about it though when we get there."

Her eyes lit up and she grinned, flashing perfectly white teeth as she bounced a little on her toes before grabbing me and hugging me tightly. My smile was genuine as I hugged her back and picked up my bag.

She walked beside me for some time down the street, down to the crosswalk and passed the school parking lot before her hand slid into mine and she clutched it tightly. The touch made me jump some at first, but the warmth of my palm soon brought her hand to my temperature and she swung our hands a little, smiling cutely at me as we neared my home.

But before we made it to the steps, she stopped me and met my gaze silently. She gently dragged me across my front lawn to the rope swing on my tree and she took a seat on it, grinning.  I chuckled a little, climbing behind it, and gave it a gentle push, allowing her to rock back and forth in the air.

"Rose..." Her eyes stayed on my face as she swung. "I'm getting sleepy."

"Alright. I'll slow you down."

My hands gently grabbed the ropes and I safely brought her to a stop, watching her climb off the swing and back onto the grass.

"Rose..." she called again, turning her head to look at me, "Rosy..."

I smiled gently, meeting her gaze, "What, Zoey?"

"Let's go inside. It's chilly out here."

"Okay, Zoey. Let's go inside."

She trailed closely behind me to the door, hand holding onto my wrist gently as I lead her in, seeing mom asleep on the couch with my younger brother Bryson beside her. The TV sat with the screen blue, movie over.

I excused myself from Zoey for a few moments to clean up the living room and turn the TV/VCR off. I picked Bryson up in my arms as I returned back to her and carried him up the steps with us to his bed before going to my own room.

Zoey was her usual quiet self, tagging along without a complaint. Her bored face was on, blank, no emotion. She was glancing around the house in the dark, while also watching her feet for anything her to avoid tripping over.

When we finally reached my bedroom, I tossed my bag to the corner and left to the dresser to change into a tee and boxers. I was well aware of Zoey's watching eyes, but I knew there was nothing new on me that wouldn't be on her, so there wasn't much to watch.

She was sitting on my bed, and had taken off her jeans, sitting cutely, legs crossed in her panties and tee. Her socks joined her jeans with my clothes in the dirty laundry basket.

The only thing that lit up the room was a few wax candles I kept in my room for stormy nights. Coincidence that they were already lit? I glanced at Zoey and she grinned from ear to ear at me.

"What's going on through that head of yours?" I laughed a little, sitting beside her.

She didn't answer. She stayed quiet as she leaned toward me, and I opened my arms to hold her in case she was going to cry, but instead my spine rattled in shock when her lips gently sucked on mine. My eyes bolted open, and she kissed me a few more times before I finally forced myself to calm and return one as she was pulling away.