“Did you cry?” she asked, immediately regretting such an inappropriate question.

He looked up, his face starkly pale against the burning summer sky. His eyes were hollow, their irises blinked dully as the sun faded into the night.

She turned away, not expecting an answer, ashamed, yet still curious. Silence was the only sound to be heard for a while, a shallow silence, one that knew it was going to be broken, yet wanted to put off that soul altering event as long as possible.

He shook his head, not a negation but rather a vain attempt to be forgotten. She turned back to him, a tear sliding from one perfectly green eye. More quickly followed, but there was still no sound, the silence still unbroken…

“I’m sorry,” she suddenly gasped, her will ruptured, as the dam that had held the majority of her tears in check. Her shoulders shook and now there was sound. It crackled through the air, jagged like lightning, coursing around the two figures.

He opened his mouth, her eyes widened, panicked. He closed it again, turned away. She collapsed, standing upright. He looked at the barren world around them and shook his head again, his fine, black hair swirling around in the air. She began to cry harder, bent over with suffering.

“No,” he whispered, and all sound but his voice ceased. “No,” he said again. “Suckers like me don’t deserve to cry.”