A woman was on her knees... everything around her was in flames, crumbling down.
Her eyes were moist, with marks of dried tears on her pale cheeks, like scars of grief.
She had a distant expression on her face, staring into nothingness. Her fingers trembled as if she was trying to hold on to something that was already gone, her lips parted but not a single word came out of them, just thick and suffocating silence.
A memory surfaced in her brain... of the time they had spent together, her laughter, her voice, her adorable rebels, the way she used to argue at the smallest of things, always so stubborn and full of life, she remembered it all... a forced and broken smile appeared on her face... but the smile soon faded away.
Then, her mask broke, she gripped her clothes tightly, and sobs shook her body as tears streamed down her face.
"Why?" she muttered.
"Why?" she repeated, her voice shaking.
"WHY!!!?" she let out a scream as another tear fell from her eyes and landed on the ash beneath her. She raised her fist and brought it down, hitting the ash that had mixed with the dead soil.
"WHY DID THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN!? WHY!?" She screamed, tears falling from her eyes continually as she exhaled.
"Why...?" she asked in a low voice.
She shut her eyes tight, fresh tears traced her jawline, her grip on her clothing tightening. She sniffed and gasped, her chest caving in... a hiccup came from her diaphragm, her body shuddered, her cracked lips trembled and she let out a regretful cry.
The sounds of her cries echoed through the charred remains of the forest, weaving through the skeletal trees like a mournful wail carried by the wind.
"I-It was-" she sniffed as her diaphragm contracted, "It was all my fault," her lips trembled as she struggled to speak.
Her face slowly lifted as the final tear fell from her eyes, staring at the beautiful orange sky of dawn. The sunlight cast a glow upon her, enhancing the paleness of her skin. A weak chuckle escaped her lips, not born from joy, but sorrow.
"wasn't it?" she asked herself a question... of what answer she didn't know, maybe there was none, but even so, she believed it, that she was the reason her friend had died.
"I-It was-" she answered the question she had asked herself.
"Melissa! Melissa!" she felt someone hug her from behind, wrapping one of their arms around her. "cheer up, why so gloomy?" the person spoke, their voice dripping with joy.
"shut up, Kaelen" Melissa said with a chuckle, trying her best to show herself as flustered. She leaned her body on the railing of the ship, staring into the dark ocean as the cold breeze of the night hit both of them.
"wow, it's cold tonight, isn't it?" Kaelen said as she shuddered.
"it sure is," Melissa answered, the warm and moist air in her lungs mixing with the cold air of the night and forming breath vapour. She took her hands off the railing of the ship and started to rub them together in the hope of some warmth.
Kaelen shifted and wrapped both arms around Melissa, hugging her from behind, her hands resting just below her bosom. Kaelen placed her chin on Melissa's shoulder with a devious smirk on her face.
"Fuck off, it's not funny," Melissa tried to say indifferently but the faint smile on her face gave it away.
"Aww, girl, don't be so mean to me now," Kaelen spoke with a devious smirk.
An energetic manly voice sounded from the ship's main deck, "Greetings, ladies, what's going on?" the voice was sharp and precise, its tone guttural.
The light of the candle the man was holding illuminated the scene unfolding on the forecastle deck of the pirate ship.
Kaelen's face lost its colour, and Melissa's ears perked up.
The man raised his eyebrow, his face turned as pale as a ghost as he witnessed the scene ahead of him with his blue eyes, "my apologies if I disturbed you in any way. So... ladies, I will head back now, keep going on with... whatever you were doing." The man said hesitantly as he turned around, a worried look on his face.
Melissa facepalmed and stared at Kaelen with a deadpan expression.
Kaelen stared back with a look on her face that said, 'Not my fault.'
Melissa broke free from Kaelen's grasp with ease and called out, "Hey! Albert! It's not what you think, come back."
Albert stopped walking and slowly turned his head around, seeing that everything was 'normal,' he turned his whole body around, facing both Melissa and Kaelen.
"It's a misunderstanding, she was just messing around," Melissa said in a tired tone.
"I-I understand..." Albert said in a hesitant tone.
Melissa let out a tired sigh, "Anyways, how did your day go?"