The warehouse was silent, almost suffocatingly so. Louis sat a few feet away from Sona, watching her with a mixture of concern and helplessness. She was perched on an old crate, staring off into the dark corners of the warehouse. The space between them felt like a chasm that was growing wider with every passing moment.
Louis wanted to reach out to her, to bridge that gap, but every time he tried, it seemed like she pulled further away.
“Sona,” Louis began, his voice tentative, “you don’t have to carry all of this by yourself.”
Sona didn’t respond immediately. Her eyes remained fixed on a distant point in the warehouse, as if she were searching for something in the shadows. Finally, she spoke, but her voice was detached, almost as if she were talking to herself rather than to him. “I’m not carrying anything, Louis. I’m fine.”
Louis’s heart ached at the emptiness in her voice. “No, you’re not. I can see it. You’re hurting, and you won’t let anyone help you.”
Sona’s expression hardened, her jaw tightening as she stared at the ground. She didn’t look at him, but her hands clenched into fists on her lap. “I don’t need help,” she said quietly, but there was an edge to her voice now. “I’ve been doing this on my own for a long time, and I don’t need you—or anyone—trying to fix me.”
Louis could feel the frustration building inside him, a knot tightening in his chest. “I’m not trying to fix you, Sona. I just want to be here for you. You don’t have to go through this alone.”
Sona’s head snapped up, her eyes finally meeting his. There was a fire in them now, burning beneath the surface. “You don’t get it, do you?” she hissed, her voice rising. “This isn’t something you can just waltz in and fix with a few comforting words. This is my life, my burden. I’ve been carrying it for years, and I don’t need you to come in and try to take it from me.”
Her words cut deep, but Louis didn’t back down. “I’m not trying to take anything from you. I just—”
“Just what?” Sona snapped, her voice sharp and laced with bitterness. She stood up abruptly, pacing the length of the room as if she couldn’t bear to stay still. “Just want to play the hero? Come in and save the day? Well, newsflash, Louis—there’s no saving this. There’s no fixing it. It’s broken, and it’s always going to be broken.”
Louis watched her, his chest tightening with each word. He had never seen her like this before—so defensive, so unwilling to let anyone in.
He took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. “I’m not here to save you, Sona. I’m here because I care about you. Because I want to help, but you keep pushing me away.”
“Maybe that’s because I don’t want your help!” Sona’s voice was rising now, her frustration spilling over. “Maybe it’s because I’m sick of everyone trying to ‘help’ me when they don’t even know what I’m going through. You don’t know, Louis. You don’t understand what it’s like to carry this weight, to have to keep going when everything inside you is screaming to stop.”
Louis’s throat tightened at her words. He opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it, unsure of what to say. The silence between them grew, thick and heavy, before Sona spoke again, this time in a voice barely above a whisper. “Then help me understand, Sona. Let me in.”
But Sona was already shaking her head, her eyes glinting with anger and something else—something deeper, more painful. She turned her back to him, her shoulders stiff as if bracing for a blow. “No. Because once you see it, once you see how messed up everything is, you’ll walk away. Just like everyone else.”
The words hit Louis like a punch to the gut. He had never imagined that Sona, so strong and fierce, could feel so… abandoned. But instead of pulling back, he leaned in, refusing to let her push him away.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said, his voice soft but steady. “I’m here, Sona. I’m not walking away from you.”
Sona let out a bitter laugh, but it was laced with something raw, something vulnerable. She crossed her arms over her chest, as if trying to shield herself from his words. “You say that now, Louis. But what happens when it gets too hard? When you realize that this—” she gestured to herself, “—isn’t something you can handle? You’ll leave, just like everyone else. And I can’t afford to let that happen again.”
Louis’s chest tightened at the pain in her voice. He could see now how deep her scars ran, how much she had been hurt before. And it killed him to think that she didn’t trust him enough to stay.
“I won’t leave, Sona,” he said, his voice almost pleading. “I’m not going anywhere.”
But Sona just shook her head, her eyes filled with a sadness that made Louis’s heart ache. “You will. Maybe not now, but eventually. And I’d rather you leave now, before I get too used to having you around.”
The finality in her voice was like a door slamming shut, and Louis felt his hope slipping away. He wanted to fight for her, to show her that he wasn’t like the others, but he could see now that she wasn’t ready to believe that. Not yet.
She stood still suddenly, her eyes flashing with a mix of anger and despair. “You don’t get it, Louis. I’ve lost everyone I’ve ever cared about. Every. Single. One.” Her voice broke, the anger giving way to something raw and painful. “They all leave, one way or another. My family, my friends, everyone. And I can’t—” She choked on her words, turning away from him. “I can’t go through that again. I won’t.”
Louis’s heart broke at her words. He had seen glimpses of her past, the shadows that haunted her, but this was different. This was the core of her pain, the reason she kept everyone at arm’s length.
He stepped closer, but cautiously, as if afraid of pushing her too far. “Sona… that’s not true. You haven’t lost everyone. You still have your friends, your gramps. You still have—”
“Don’t,” she snapped, spinning to face him again. Her eyes were wild, filled with a desperate, frantic energy. “Don’t you dare try to tell me I have people when I know what it feels like to lose them. My family is gone, Louis. Rock On is gone. They were everything to me, and now they’re just… gone.”
Her voice cracked on the last word, and Louis could see the cracks in her armor, the cracks she was desperately trying to hold together.
“Maybe I don’t understand everything you’ve been through,” Louis said softly, “but I understand what it’s like to lose people. I’ve lost people too. And I know it doesn’t get easier, but that doesn’t mean you have to go through it alone. You have people who care about you, Sona. I care about you.”
Sona shook her head, tears brimming in her eyes. “But for how long, Louis? How long before you realize I’m too much, that this is too much? How long before you leave like everyone else?”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Louis repeated, his voice steady. “I’m here, Sona. I’m here, and I’m not leaving.”
For a moment, Sona just stared at him, her emotions a swirling storm behind her eyes. Louis could see the battle she was fighting, the fear and pain that were trying to keep her from letting him in. He wanted so desperately to reach out, to hold her, but he knew that this had to be her choice.
Sona’s voice dropped, the bitterness replaced by a quiet, desperate pain. “You don’t understand, Louis. You can’t understand. Everyone I’ve ever let in has been taken from me. My mom, the band… I let myself care, and they all disappeared, leaving me with nothing.”
Louis could see the cracks deepening, her defenses crumbling under the weight of her own words. He stepped closer, his heart breaking for her. “Sona… you haven’t lost me.”
Her gaze snapped to him, eyes blazing with a fierce intensity. “Not yet. But you will. That’s what always happens. I’m cursed, Louis. Everyone I love ends up leaving me… alone.”
Louis took a deep breath, stepping even closer, close enough to feel the tension radiating off of her. “Then let’s break that curse together. Let me prove to you that I’m not going anywhere. That I won’t disappear on you.”
But Sona’s eyes were wild, almost frantic, as if she were searching for an escape from the pain that was threatening to consume her. “You can’t promise that, Louis! You can’t promise me that you won’t be taken from me, that you won’t leave me alone like everyone else. It’s better if you just go now, before it hurts more.”
Louis’s heart shattered at her words, at the raw, vulnerable fear in her voice. But he wasn’t going to back down. Not now. He had to make her see that she wasn’t alone, that she didn’t have to carry this weight by herself.
“I won’t go,” he said, his voice firm. “I won’t leave you, Sona. Not now, not ever.”
But Sona shook her head, tears finally spilling down her cheeks. “You don’t understand, Louis. I can’t let you in, because if I do, and you leave… I won’t survive it. I won’t survive losing someone else.”
Louis’s heart ached for her, for the pain she was carrying, the fear that had driven her to this breaking point. He wanted so badly to reach out, to hold her, to promise her that everything would be okay. But he knew that words alone wouldn’t be enough. She needed to see, to feel that he was there for her, that he wasn’t going to leave.
So he did the only thing he could think of. He reached out, gently taking her hand in his. “Sona… I’m here. And I’m not going anywhere.”
Sona looked at him, her eyes filled with a mixture of fear and hope, as if she were daring to believe him, daring to let herself hope that he might be different. But the fear was still there, holding her back, keeping her from fully letting him in.
“I’m scared, Louis,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “I’m so scared.”
Louis squeezed her hand, his heart breaking for her. “I know you are. But you don’t have to be scared alone. Let me be here for you, Sona. Let me help you carry this.”
Sona didn’t respond, but she didn’t pull away either. She just stood there, her hand in his, tears streaming down her face as she fought the battle within herself, the battle between the fear of losing and the desperate need to be loved.
Louis didn’t push, didn’t try to say anything more. He just stood there with her, holding her hand, letting her know that he was there, that he wasn’t going to leave.
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