Mirror

All Things Die

"I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night"- Sarah Williams

Before she even knocked, the door gave away and Michael stood there, in a simple outfit made up of a tee shirt and sweatpants. He looked at her with so much love and concern. It made her heart throb

"Why are you crying?" he asked her in a silent voice, moving towards her to hold her.

"What?" she said incredulously as she touched her cheek with her fingers. Sure enough, it came back wet. She was crying and she hadn't even noticed. Emotions were pesky like that, she wondered, sometimes you could be feeling something you didn't even know.

She looked at Michael and she knew how right she was. She thought of all this as she collapsed sobbing on his shoulder.

She had felt pain before but nothing like what she felt now. She felt a lot of anger, but she just didn't know who to direct it at.

Michael was stroking her hair as they sat on the couch in his living room. She held him like they were the last people alive. There so many things that were going through her head, how could this happen? Why did the people you cared about hurt you the most?

"Do you want to tell me what's going on?" Michael asked and her heart throbbed when she heard the concern in his voice.

"I saw," she replied, stammering, "I saw my mum..."

"After seeing her every day for all your life, that must have been a shocker." He answered back and despite herself, she laughed. Michael always knew how to reach into the deep recesses of her heart and bring out things she didn't even know were in there. Things like the warm pleasure of an honest laugh.

"Shutup, okay?" she replied, hitting him lightly on his strong chest. "I saw her with Idunu's father."

She didn't know what happened then but she felt it. It was like the dynamics in the room suddenly changed. She felt Michael's body clench and his arm shifted just a little. She had become so attuned to his movements that she could sense even the tiniest shift.

"What's wrong?" she asked him, moving slightly so she could see him eye to eye.

Michael always looked at her, he never shied away from eye contact. It was one of the things she loved about him. It made everything he said more real, more true.

And yet, he couldn't seem to meet her eyes now.

"What is it?" she said and this time she moved away further from him, something was terribly wrong.

He was silent for a long time. And then he spoke.

And she wished he hadn't.

"I knew, me and Idunu saw them some days before she..." Michael's voice seemed to fail him.

Shiv just stared at him. There was a part of her that was so angry that he kept this from her and yet there was a part that wished he had lied to her, never told her the truth. The truth was always painful to bear and even more painful to accept.

She started crying again and this time she felt every part of it. It was like a waterfall was crashing through her heart, wiping clean every ounce of happiness and hope. Why did he have to do this? Why did life have to be so complicated?

Michael tried to wrap his arms around her but she pulled away from him, the tears clouding her vision. She stood up and she just ran. She was surprised she didn't trip and fall to a happy death on the way since she could barely see but somehow, she made it to the front door.

Shewas still crying as she ran away from his house. She kept on running, trying be faster thanMichael and her mother and life itself