For the first time in months, she was no longer lay on her bed, looking up at the ceiling and staring into the abyss. She was sat on her windowsill. Her back was pressed upright onto the cold stone wall, and her knees bunched up into her chest. She had gotten used to the feeling of the coldness on her bare feet, but it still felt odd upon her back. This may have been because the old shirt she was wearing was thinning and wasn't as thick as her others. Or it may just have been because she doesn't often have her back on the wall. She was staring out of the window, watching the world go by. Watching the wind blow the branches of the trees. Watching the birds soaring through the air, with no restraints. 

She sometimes dreamed. What she would give, to live a life like those birds. With no restraints. No pressure to do things, no pressure not to do things. How great it would be. She could only imagine. She twirled the knife through her empty fingers, not thinking about the consequences it may have. She heard two taps, except they weren't taps, they sounded fuller, but still gentle.

The door crept open, and someone slipped inside. 

"Sorry, I hope you don't mind," It was Marcus, his words were more relaxing and gentler than earlier, more understanding. 

"Nathaniel has asked me to bring you these up, I just finished making them around 10 minutes ago. I only didn't offer you one then, because they were still very hot. He has also asked me to make sure I watch you eat at least something?" 

He was confused. You could tell by the sound of his voice that he didn't know what was going on, but she didn't want to burden him with her problems, so she stayed quiet.

"Thanks," she said.

She didn't know what else to say. What else was there to say? Marcus put the pastry down on the little room she had left on the sill. She repositioned her body, so she no longer had her feet on it, and now they were dangling in front of her. She picked up the pastry and ripped the corner off to eat it. To say this dude had shown up in her house an hour ago with no good reason, he was a damn good chef. It was similar to a galette, but the pastry had a consistency more similar to a croissant's. To say the least, it was a good pastry. Better than Astoria's. She smiled at him.

"Thank you. It's a good pastry." She chuckled.

Marcus stared back at her. After a few seconds of thought, he moved the plate holding the pastry closer to her and sat down on the sill next to her.

"I do tend to pride myself in my cooking." He looked back at her, realizing how big headed he seemed saying that. "My- My mum taught me you see. She was an amazing cook. It's a good thing she wrote down all her recipes... Without them I would be absolutely shit at cooking." He managed to fumble out.

She glanced back at him, she smiled, as if she was doing a really light-hearted chuckle. He realized something wasn't right.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said. She fiddled with the pastry in her hand, not looking back up at him.

"Don't give me that... Believe it or not, I can tell when somethings not right with someone. What's wrong?" He was stern, but for some reason his voice still had that reassuring tone, calm and gentle, like a Saint.

"How much do you know?" She whispered, barely loud enough for her to hear. Never mind Marcus. She was ashamed.

Embarrassed talking to her problems to someone no more than a stranger to her. But as soon as she said those words, it felt easier. It felt good talking to someone, even if it was hard, and made her feel ashamed to start with.

"What?"

"How much do you know about me?" she looked up at him, he could tell by the look in her eyes she was uncomfortable.

"Umm... I mean.. Barely anything... Your brother just- he just asked me to come for something last night... I never knew you or Nathaniel before that... You- You know you don't have to answer my question if you don't want to, right? I was just trying to make you feel better. If you're not comfortable you don't have to tell me anything. I'm sorry if I seemed pushy..."

Alania just looked away and stared out the window, she knew she had to say something. She knew by saying something it would make it easier for her in the long run.

"I had a brother. His name was Nicholas. He absolutely idolised me. He was my best friend. A few weeks ago, he died. I've been thinking about it... I caused his death in 2 ways..." She turned around and looked back up at Marcus. "His death was my fault Marcus... If I had eaten that day, we wouldn't have gone outside. If I had helped Nathan when he asked... Tella would have been safe. He died because of me... It- It's all my fault... I am the reason he's dead. With it being his birthday and all... I cannot forgive myself for not letting him see 13..." Her voice broke, she swallowed to try and fix it, but it was stuck. As if there was a lump in her throat.

As she finished her sentence, a singular tear rolled down her cheek. Her face buried her hands for a brief moment, until she quickly scampered back up to wipe the tear off her cheek. She snuffled and her eyelids were ever so slightly puffed.

Marcus didn't know what to do with himself, he stared quietly back at her for a moment, before speaking.

"I- I'm so sorry Alania... I had no idea. But if there is one thing I can tell you, none of that is your fault. It's all natural mistakes. Everyone makes them. It's a human thing... Accepting that, that it’s not your fault... That's the first step to dealing with grief. The quicker you do that, the quicker you can get your life back to normal."

He had never noticed how blue her eyes were. It may have been the tears that brought it out, but it was as if he was staring straight into the ocean. They were as blue as the sky, but with a slight green tint towards the middle. They were beautiful. She was beautiful.

He clasped her tightly in his arms. Making sure she felt safe. For her, it felt like a warm blanket, wrapping around her once she had spent too long in the rain and was cold and dripping with water. She felt calm and relaxed. And wrapped her arms back around him. The pain she had felt before was long forgotten. As if she never felt it in the first place. The world felt like a faraway blur. Nothing mattered in it. Nothing but him. He pulled away, looking awkward.

"I- I'm sorry Nia. You should never have gone through any of that. I just wanted to make sure you were ok. I shouldn't have hugged you. I just wanted you to feel safe. So that you knew you could trust me."

She paused before speaking. Thinking about what she was about to say.

"Don't be sorry..." she whispered, before clearing her throat to speak clearer.

"It's the first time in 3 weeks I have actually felt relaxed, never mind safe I haven't felt like that in months. Thank you... Marcus. For that."

She smiled at him, it was as if her smile was the only one in the world, it lit up the whole room and the world outside. The sun coming from behind the clouds and shining onto the grass. He smiled back. There was nothing he now liked more than seeing her smile. It was contagious. That was the best thing about it. She smiled, and you could do nothing but smile back.

"You're welcome. I guess I better go and find your brother. He will be wondering where I am... I will be up later with some lunch for you, ok? When I walked in and saw him making those pastries earlier, it was a mess. He wasn't doing great at all." He chuckled. "He doesn't seem like the best of cooks, but he cares for you. I imagine I will be making lunch for the 3 of us."

~

Alania had been sat there pretty much all day. Apart from the few times when Marcus came up to give her food, and they ended up laughing for half an hour straight. She could hear more voices appearing downstairs. First it was just the one new voice, she thought she might have just misheard Nathaniel or Marcus. But when she heard a female voice, she knew someone else was downstairs. At least one other person. What was he planning?

~

She changed her clothes around an hour ago. Now that she knew there was definitely more people, she didn't want to embarrass herself in front of them too. She changed out of her old thinning t-shirt and changed for a newer shirt, a rusty orange colour. But kept on her tatty jeans. They were comfortable. She needed to be somewhat comfortable. She put on a newer, cleaner shirt; and put a jacket on top. She put some socks on but didn't bother with shoes again. There was no point.

~

She got up off of the windowsill and wandered out of her bedroom door. Nathaniel heard her gentle footsteps from downstairs. She was walking directly above him.

"Shit. Shit shit shit. Umm... Marcus can you try and keep her upstairs for like 10 minutes until I manage to set the table? She has a certain way she likes things to go and if they're not in that was she is not going to be in a good mood, and I need her to be in a good mood tonight." He said.

You could tell by his voice he was panicked, but not in a normal way. More in a rushed was that he needed to get everything done quickly because he knew Marcus wouldn't be able to keep her upstairs for long.

"Umm... yeah sure. Just make sure before you put it out that you baste the meat otherwise it will be dry!" he walked off as he was saying that last sentence, so he got louder the further along he got.

~

He ran into her not long after he left the kitchen. Literally. He turned the corner and there she was. Neither of them were looking were they were going, so they just ran into each other. Nia stumbled, but Marcus failed in his attempt to catch her, and ended up falling over as well. Both bodies on the floor. Nia smiled at him, and both of them laughed. Marcus was rubbing his head. He had smashed it on the corner of the wall when he fell. It felt as if his head was burning.

"Oh shit. I am so sorry are you OK?" Marcus said. He was genuinely concerned. His face was going bright red. He needed to know he hadn't hurt her.

"I'm OK. Are you OK? You're the one rubbing your head."

Marcus still couldn't stop laughing, even if his head was throbbing. But Nia had stopped, she couldn't laugh when she could tell he was actually hurt.

"Don't worry about me... Come on, let me help you up." he said.

He bounced up as if he had never fell over, kicking his legs in the air as she jumped. He held her hand out for her and she grabbed it, slowly but surely getting up too.

"I uh.. came to give you your earphones back..." he said. Even his tone of voice said that he wasn't ok.

"Don't worry about that now. We need to make sure you're ok... May I?"

"Nia, I told you... I'm fine-" he was cut off mid-sentence by her firm glare. It was as if she was saying,

Shut the hell up and do what I say.

He nodded back, he trusted her. Even though he had only met her today, there was something about her. Something comforting. She moved his hand away from his head and parted his hair. She looked around and saw a small pool of red clinging to his hair.

"Shit. You're bleeding,"

"Am I? Jeez it doesn't feel like it, it only feels warm."

"That's how blood is meant to feel you absolute knob," she smirked at him and they both laughed. "Come on, I'll take you to the bathroom and we will get you cleaned up."

She grabbed his hand and pulled him down the corridor, she ran and he was dragged along like a puppy on a leash.

~

Marcus didn't know where to sit, so he just perched on the end of the bathtub. Nia walked over to the cupboard and got out a first aid kit.

"So," Nia started. "Who are the other people downstairs?"

Marcus looked startled. He didn't know what to say. Nathaniel shut him down earlier saying what he was doing here. What should he say now? He was panicked, he didn't know what to do.

"Umm... What people?"

"I heard others downstairs. At first I thought I might have just misheard you or Nathaniel... But then I heard a female voice, I knew I wasn't imagining it."

"I am... not sure. There wasn't anyone down there when I was, apart from me and your brother."

"Oh.. Ok. Maybe I did mishear you. I guess you do sound like a girl" she smirked, she looked over at him and he looked taken back by what she just said.

"Oh you did not just say that."

"Ok girliepop" she smiled at him and he smiled back. Why would she say that? It was just such a weird word to use. 'Girliepop'.

She got out the antiseptic wipes and made her way over to him. She sat down next to him and put her elbow on his shoulder. He was taller than her, so it was difficult to manoeuvre this whilst sat down also. She gently parted his semi-long brown hair and started to clean his cut. He winced away from her, and she flinched back.

"I'm sorry. Are you ok? Does it hurt?" she said. She didn't want to hurt him, but she needed to make sure it didn't get infected or anything like that.

"Just a little, more of a sting. But I can take it. Because I'm MACHO MAN" he put his hand on his hips and looked diagonally as if he was posing for one of those really weird perfume adverts with Chris Hemsworth in. Alania burst out into laughter, and Marcus couldn't resist following her. Neither of them could stop laughing, until they did. Everything stopped existing. Stars scattered into the black holes of their eyes, dying in their deep voids. Nothing else held any significance. Just 2 dark windows. A gaze into a moment. A heartbeat. Nothing else. Then it was broken.

"Hey, are you guys in- There you are! Umm... were ready for you two downstairs. Wait Marcus are you bleeding? What... What happened?"

It was Nathaniel, he came barging through the door and just blurted out a whole paragraph without thinking.

"Uhh.. yeah. I kind of... ran into Nia. Literally. I may have smashed my head on a corner." You could tell by the way he was talking that he was embarrassed about it.

"Oh... Well come on, let me help you," He walked over and Nia gave him the wipe. "Ok you will feel a bit of a sting.."

Marcus winced away from the wipe again. He lifted his arm up and put his hand upon Nia's without thinking. He looked at her as if to say 'Sorry'.

Nathaniel cleaned up his cut, getting most of the blood out of his hair.

"Obviously I can't put a plaster on it, it will rip your hair out. And I don't want to put a bandage around your head because well, you'll look weird. Just make sure you wash your hair to get the last of that blood out, Ok?" He handed him a cloth in case it began to bleed again. To clean it up.

"Yeah... I will do."

"Great. Shall we go down to dinner now? The guests will wonder where we are." Nathaniel asked.

"See! I knew you were lying! I said there were other people!" Nia said. She loved being right.