Loss

Source

Shiro
by @Brisby

Shiro paid the street vendor for his lemonade, unfazed by her curious glances to the glove on his hand. Any other day, he would have answered the unspoken questions of the smiling woman with a light quip. A bit of banter went miles in getting people to overlook his many...eccentricities.
Today though, he couldn't muster anything witty. Throngs of people were milling about the square, mindless to those who were in a hurry. His quick errand run had become a snail-paced slog behind wandering looky-loos. The brown jacket he wore was sodden thanks to the blistering bake of the summer sun. He'd give anything to shed his sweaty layers but the memories of what had happened the last time...

Compounding his exhaustion were his ever-present travelling companions. Their desperation for his attention had begun fraying his nerves since he left home. Ignoring their antics and way they clung to him had worn his energy to a hair's breadth. Sheer obstinance was all that kept him from screaming at them in the middle of the crowd.

Shuffling aside to savor the crisp drink in the shade of the over-sized umbrella, Shiro felt something crunch beneath his heel. Dammit! Whatever he had broken, it sounded expensive.

Behind him a voice shrilled, "You're paying for that!"

Shoulders slumping as he fingered his wallet, he turned. "Sorry! I didn't know...", his voice choked to a halt. Not because the person was intimidating. The blonde slip of a girl glaring daggers at him wouldn't have been able to frighten a hamster. Nor was it due to her beauty, as she had been graced with an unfortunate nose.

It was the reaction of his companions that stole his breath.

Gone were the shadowy undulations and static flickerings who had doggedly followed Shiro since he was a child. What remained were swirling vortices of crimson and pitch. Amorphous, they writhed. They wailed. The air thickened with the depth of their need.

Without warning, unctuous tendrils sprang. Shiro cried out but it was too late. Oozing with hunger, his companions snaked to envelop the girl. Her wide hazel orbs rolled to the heavens before she collapsed to the ground.

---

Transferring Loss

Shiro went to her limp body, trying to find a pulse. He impatiently took off his glove and jacket, somehow knowing that nothing will happen now. The companions that had held him back and scorched him the last time he'd tried to take away the warmth of the home they made in his body, had left him. He felt free. Felt like all the normal people milling about and looking with concern at the girl.

Her pulse was weak but it was there. He felt a shock of heat as he touched her. He knew what had happened before he saw the shadowy wisps find a new home in her body. As he placed his discarded jacket on her, it felt like some sort of a ritual. He didn't know how he could help her, he'd never been able to help himself.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she tried to set the jacket aside. Shiro caught her hand and shook his head. He pointed to the shrivelled skin of his left hand and said

"They like being warm. If you take away the jacket, they'll burn you."

She took a shattering breath and whispered, "Loss?"

Shiro looked down, he could not meet the pain and anger in those hazel eyes.

"Yes, it is Loss. It will cling to you, follow you around."

"But why has Loss chosen me?" She looked around frantically and then started screaming, "Ma, where are you?"

She sat up and winced slightly as she screamed for her mother. The amorphous shadows cackled. They found a perverse enjoyment in her distress.

She swatted away the hand that had been resting on her shoulder, " Why me? What did you do to me? Why did your Loss come to me? You imbecile human. I've been watching you. Struggling with your curse, but continuing as if everything was normal. As if Loss didn't prick you with every step you took. Your filth shouldn't effect me! "

Shiro threw his lemonade on her face and said gently, "Your mother really shouldn't have poisoned me, my dear."

He sat back as the amorphous shadows crystallized around her and dissolved her human form to leave grains of sand behind.

Shiro found his sense of humour as he looked at his blood- hungry former companions and laughed "Sand-witches."

---