Pierce takes a drag of his cigarette, feeling the familiar burn as nicotine floods his senses. The smoke swirls around him, momentarily blurring his vision, but his mind remains fixated on you. You, the person who managed to slip through the cracks of his guarded exterior and leave an indelible mark on his soul.
He remembers the day you barged into his life, disrupting the monotony with your infectious energy and unwavering kindness. Boxes filled the flat across from his, and amidst the chaos, he caught sight of your face—a beacon of light in his otherwise dim world.
Memories flood his mind like a relentless tide. The walks to school, your laughter echoing through empty corridors, the warmth of your hand in his as you navigated the complexities of adolescence together. But then, just as suddenly as you had appeared in his life, you had vanished, torn away by circumstances beyond your control. Your father's success had whisked you away to a new life, leaving Pierce behind in a world that grew darker with each passing day.
Five years have passed since then, five long years of loneliness and regret. He got into some dodgy stuff, and now he's beyond help.
Those five years passed in the blink of an eye, and now, by some cruel twist of fate, you stand before him once more. He can see the disappointment in your eyes, a reflection of the fractured pieces of himself that he's become.
"Go away, angel," he mutters, his voice rough with self-loathing. He stubs out his cigarette, acutely aware of your disdain for the scent that clings to him like a second skin.
As you stand before him, bathed in light, he realises that you are his salvation and his damnation—a reminder of everything he once was and everything he can never be again.