[He breathes in and lets out in a few deep breaths.]
[Tears his eyes aware from hers.]
[Unbuttons another button and tugs more on his collar like he's suffocating.]
[The problem with not being able to meet her eyes is that looking down isn't an escape from why he can't face her. From what's making him feel like he's drowning.]
[There's a small, deep green stain on an otherwise polished shoe. The alien wasn't the first person he'd seen die but he still hadn't realized blood could spray that far. When he'd found his wife she was already gone. And with others...he hadn't stayed close to the dying during the worst of it. Anytime there were strange animal noises in the mist or rioting or gunfire, he'd just run, his daughter in his arms.]
[Somehow, over the months and months, he'd run long enough that dying hadn't happened to them.]
[His voice is calmer, but it's the calm of someone forcing it.]
no subject
[Tears his eyes aware from hers.]
[Unbuttons another button and tugs more on his collar like he's suffocating.]
[The problem with not being able to meet her eyes is that looking down isn't an escape from why he can't face her. From what's making him feel like he's drowning.]
[There's a small, deep green stain on an otherwise polished shoe. The alien wasn't the first person he'd seen die but he still hadn't realized blood could spray that far. When he'd found his wife she was already gone. And with others...he hadn't stayed close to the dying during the worst of it. Anytime there were strange animal noises in the mist or rioting or gunfire, he'd just run, his daughter in his arms.]
[Somehow, over the months and months, he'd run long enough that dying hadn't happened to them.]
[His voice is calmer, but it's the calm of someone forcing it.]
...Do you think Mr. Five would have?