Winter

He's dead.

The two words were embedded on my screen, in my mind, heart and soul.

Jack Frost had pierced through my body and induced winter on the insides of my torso. Ice and snow appeared to be the only things that filled up the void in my chest. Numbness overpowered every inch of my seemingly exposed body. It was slowly being replaced by the waves of sadness that impacted again and again. All of these had found a way to seep into my soul and take away a part of me.

I could only deduce that this was part of shock, part of losing someone that meant - means - a lot to you... It was part of life. It was part of the terribly unbearable part of life that everyone kept saying that you'd get through, that you'd move on and that they offered their condolences. None of their condolences could ever replace that person and we may move on or get through this part of life, but the way we turn out at the end might even be completely different to the person we were before and we may even hate that different person deeply.

My friend, Hayley, told me the news that our friend, Drew, had passed away. We only knew each other online, but that didn't matter; we were pretty good friends. Drew's passing was unfair, so damned unfair. He went into surgery after a drunk driver crashed into his car. The surgery went fine, however, he was injected with too much anesthesia. He was such a good person, so kind and so caring; there weren't enough people in the world like him, but there was one less of those people in the world now. He was gone, gone, gone.

He was g o n e.

He would never walk on this earth ever again.

When I found out, I had just accepted it - there was no disbelief and rejection of the idea like in shows. Just acceptance. It was as if I knew he was gone. I hadn't known. I hadn't known. If only I had talked to him more recently. If only I had been as good a friend as he was to me. If only, if only, if only...

The ice and snow didn't melt; it didn't bring a storm with pelting raindrops to run down my face that was like a frozen marble sculpture - it didn't even bring showers. I still waited for the storm that never came. Sweaters, blankets and hot chocolate couldn't defrost my body. They were the sun shining, but their warmth could not touch the bottom of a grave that was hidden behind a great oak tree. They couldn't thaw something that wasn't physically there.

Everybody told themselves something to help overcome the loss of losing someone close to them, so they could survive without losing themselves. It didn't always work, but I tried to help myself as best I could. I'd tell myself that he'd be in a better place, that he'd be in a sunny meadow eating pizza without a care in the world. He wouldn't have to worry about anything. He'd be free. There would be no pain, no numbness, nothing bad. I told myself he went without feeling any pain. It didn't make it significantly better, since he was forced to be apart from the person he loved too.

Little did I know, the love of his life would join him soon.

~~~

One or two days later, the light gust of wind that blew into my room was different, a lot warmer. The hairs on my arms pricked up. The bubbling of a running stream could be heard, freshly mowed grass wafted in the breeze - my senses intensified.

"Drew?" I let out a breath shakily.

I could have sworn it was him saying his goodbye. That was when I knew for sure that he was really leaving Earth and his life behind.

It was in that moment that I knew everything was going to be okay. It wasn't okay now, but it'd be okay. Sunlight would find a way through the branches of the great oak tree and it would touch the bottom of the grave. It would thaw the ice and snow prison.

It hadn't mattered whether we were the water in the ocean, the dew on grass, the ice on Mt. Everest or the rain that tumbled down; we were connected and had our similarities no matter what form. My friends and I - we'd get through winter into spring and into summer.

We knew him. We had memories of him.

I had the closure I needed.

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Wow, I actually wrote something for Wattpad. It's been, like, 32486765 years. I hope you guys all liked this short story.

I really like weather metaphors, haha :P

~ Jas