Memories

The second anniversary of the Thailand tsunami and the thoughts of the survivors.

            They place flowers on the graves. Some big some small some are more expensive or more extravagant. The flowers represent the people gathered at the graveyard. Each one comes from a different life a different place. Some people here are friends or acquaintances. Others are bosses or workers. Strangers mingle together with tears in their eyes as the ceremonies begin.

            Though every person here is different they don’t mind. They have all gathered for one purpose, one reason, to honor the dead, the lost, the missing. Orphans stand beside their parents graves, weeping as their new family’s stand above them. Widows and widowers gather near. All are silent except for the few that cry. Some scream from the pain or the memories that still haunt their nightmares. No one here is with out them, the nightmares that is. All of those gathered in the graveyard have experienced them. All of them remember the way the wave crashed into them. How it choked them made their bodies feel like fire. They all know what it feels like to be alone. Trapped, stranded. Rescued by strangers but never loved ones.

            The sky opens up and the rain falls around them as the very earth seems to morn the great loss. So many lives were ruined that December two years ago. So many lives were stolen. 169,752 pulse dead. 127,294 and more missing. 
            
             No matter what they do they will never be able to change those facts so tighter they gather and together they morn on a wet December afternoon.

Girl in the Field

He sees her sitting there in the field. Flowers and tall grass surround her, yet she looks sad so he stops and he stares. He knows her but doubts she knows him. She doesn’t notice him at the moment so he uses this time to inspect her face. She is sad and thoughtful. Her brows knit together as she sits and thinks. She holds her knees close to her chest and he notices the soft shaking of her shoulders in a silent cry.

He can’t help but wonder what is wrong. She was what you could call popular. Her features were perfect: long blond hair that she often wore in a hat, a slim figure, and a soft face. She was the captain of the cheer team and the mathletes. She played basketball and wrote for the school newspaper. She stared in the school play but hated talking in front of class. He knew that she had had many boyfriends and suitors.

Her friends were numerous but the ones that she held close could be counted on one hand. Her family was small, a younger sister, and her parents. Her father was a lawyer and her mom a chef. At least that is what his friend had told him. Unlike the majority of the friends he had, he wasn’t popular. But she was, so he couldn’t help wonder what was wrong.

He couldn’t ask her though because he was the shy one, the nerd, the boy no one noticed with a broken family and lost sibling. He turned to walk away from her and she turned, hearing him. Surprised she stared at him. When they made eye contact, her face softened and she smiled. Her puffy cheeks and red eyes were evidence of her crying but her smile was a real smile.

And in that moment he noticed her, the real her. He could tell from the look in her eyes that she knew that as well. He could also see something else, a soft glow, a joy and mixture of sadness that stated to him that she saw him, really saw him. Then suddenly he knew what was wrong and he miss understood her. He smiled back and turned away, understanding everything now. Even someone whose life seems perfect knows pain. The sound of his soft shoes crunching the autumn leaves faded into the distance. Her eyes never left his back.

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