The rain began to fall simultaneously to the splatter in the grass at Paisley's feet; a loose tear that her eyes could no longer hold.

❝Why are you crying?❞ Ian's heart sank. He didn't know what was going on with her.

When she didn't respond, he was finally struck by realization.

He closed the distance between her body and his, and for several moments, the boy just stood there, his arms wrapped around the girl. He hoped that she would get the message he was trying to send:

You are not alone.

Neither spoke for a long while. The sun was hiding somewhere underneath the day's brutal storm, but tomorrow, Ian knew it would reappear and again smile down on the earth.

He hoped that soon, the girl's own storm, too, would subside, and he might just catch a glimpse of her fallen expression fading; maybe her pale lips would upturn slightly at the thought of someone simply acknowledging her existence.

You are not alone.

He watched the way the wind swirled around her body, like it was trying to avoid interfering with the hurricane brewing inside her.

Ian would not let the girl face her depression by herself.