Chapter .27.

She loved him with a messy heart,

he hugged her with fragile bones

She touched him with scared hands

He kissed her with bruised lips

They whispered all their flaws

and inhaled the storm together.

-Randy Mascorro

***

Time passes much like how it did within the mountains. Soon I'm unable to register if an hour really is sixty minutes or seconds. It flows through my hand, falling like water that is unable to be held. There is no way to keep it.

The days trickle by. Orion finds his place in the pack.

It's one I never expected from him, but then again, Orion was always surprising me.

I was introducing him to Henry, finally making the two meet. Orion stood silently behind me, not even bothering to make an effort in the conversation. Instead, his finger would occasionally stroke down my back, following the uneven path and making me jump at the searing sensation.

He had a habit of doing that now.