His muscular shoulders were hunched over, head bowed, and hands tightly clasped together.

His eyes moved quickly from tile to tile, his mind trying to establish that there was a ground, and his eyes trying to rid themselves of tears.

Regardless, the floor was decorated with droplets of regret.  Silence blared loudly, filling his soul and making it difficult to concentrate.

She burst into the ER with blood pouring from a deep cut in her arm and her bruises a vibrant red.

Her hair looked soft and long, just as he had remembered from childhood.

She looked at him, looking at her. And suddenly he became dizzy.

He didn’t know whether he was the frantic mother trailing behind her, her cautious father, or the girl herself.

He noticed that her eyes were wide, full of fear and puzzlement.

A doctor grabbed her by the waist to put a barrier between chaos and the girl.

She was so fixed on the boy, and he was fixed on her.They remained like that, eye to eye, soul to soul, until everyone was pulled away.

The ER room became quiet again as he studied the clean floor.

He then put his head back down, blinked back his tears, took a deep breath, and painfully swallowed his medication