Flight

A summer day is normally nice and quiet, a fun time to go and laugh with your partner. Not for Katie and Jack. They both deal with the effects of Katie's troublingly hard, and secret, home life.

Sun fell down from a clear sky, dancing over the ground as it filtered through green summer leaves. Quiet laughter sprang up to join the gentle chorus of the birds, a pair of voices mixing together seamlessly. A girl was sprawled on the grass, jacket cast aside in a pile along with her purse and sunglasses. Beside her is laying a handsome boy about her age, soft brown eyes looking into her pale grey ones. Their hands were twined together in the grass as he reached his free one to brush a stray piece of black hair from her forehead.

Their talk was hushed, whispered tones as if they feared being discovered. At least, the girl did. Every crack and snap of a twig or crinkle and flap of a leaf sent her looking around like thunder had roared. The boy would just chuckle and sooth her fraying nerves. However, she could only stand so much worrying before she sat up and gave him the same forlorn look she always did.

Her baby blues were misting up as her small mouth opened, trying to utter an excuse. "I-I-I…" She hadn't been able to since the first time the two had gone on a date and he had called her out on her lie.

"It's okay, Katie," his low voice whispered, hand raising to cup her cheek.

Their eyes connected and for probably the hundredth time Kaitlyn felt her heart swell when she looked at Jackson. He had called out her lie only because he hated knowing when someone was lying, not because he needed the truth. He respected her reluctance to tell him, to tell anyone. Over the months she thought he might have guessed, but if he had Jack would have told her to leave, just like everyone else. The beginnings of a prickle build behind Kaitlyn's eyes. Her hand hurries to wipe it away, but Jackson's beats her there. His thumb has stolen away the first of her tears and his arms are around her to keep the rest away.

"I wish you'd tell me, Katie. I really wish you would." His arms tighten around her, a promise that he would be there if she ever needed him.

Her face scrunches harshly as she fights down the words and sobs building in her to replace them with, "Someday, Jack. I promise someday you'll know."

She holds just as tightly to his shirt as he does to her whole being, because honestly he is the only thing keeping her together anymore. Too large a storm was brewing, it was ripping her apart piece by piece. Pretty soon there wouldn't be anything left for Jackson to love, or much of her to love him back.

Painful prickling steadily built in Kaitlyn's tightly shut eyes. She turned her head, burying it in Jackson's shoulder, the place she felt safest. As she cried, Kaitlyn hardly made any noise which only broke Jackson's heart more and more as he held her. The boy was practically bitting his lip off as he forced himself to keep his eyes dry. That was his angel's time to grieve and wallow, not his for her pain. With all the care in the world, Jackson loosens his hold enough to let him stroke her back. It's a constant rhythm that she taught him when they were just kids, one he knows will at least help get her mind off whatever is waiting for her at home.

In all the years Jackson's known Kaitlyn, he's only ever been to her house once and it was hardly long enough to count as spending time there. He glanced down to the weeping mess in his lap and gritted his teeth. They had been such small kids, there wasn't much Jackson could remember about the house, no matter how much he wanted. And he so desperately wanted to, he wanted to know why she so often cried in his arms, why she never wore anything other than her sweats when she was gorgeous… There were so many things he wanted to know why she did, but they all stemmed from that house. He could guess what was happening, but not why and how. If he wanted to help his angel girl he had to know enough to get her protected and safe.

So he stayed strong, standing like a stone in a hurricane. He would be there for his Katie, no matter what she would throw at him emotionally and physically. Not a single thing could pull him from her, then or ever in the future.

Author's Note

Why this happened, I don't know. Don't judge too harshly.