Sitting silently in your seat on the public bus, you struggled to fight your tears back as you stared mindlessly out the window. The bus was uncharacteristically quiet. Every seat was filled except the one next to you. The only sounds that reached your ears were the creak of the bus, the hushed whispers of the passengers, and the steady patter of rain against the windows.
Shifting your gaze down to your hands, you thought about your mother and how much you missed her. Today was the anniversary of her death. She died in a car crash exactly one year ago.
Your vision blurring, you fought them back furiously before the bus screeched to a grinding halt. Looking up to see who was boarding, you saw a lone boy walk down the bus, searching for somewhere to sit. His hood was up and the ends of his damp obsidian curls were poking out from under the fabric.
As he came up to the seat beside you, you met his gaze and noticed that his eyes matched his hair, dark and glistening.
It disturbed you to see such beautiful irises hold so much pain.
"Is it alright if I sit here?" he asked with a lilted but gravely voice.
Clearing your throat, you nodded and scooted over to give him a bit more room.
The both of you spent the first couple of minutes together in a surprisingly comfortable silence until you saw him turn toward you out of the corner of your eye.
"Hi."
"Hello."
"I'm Calum."
"(Y/N)."
And then a pause, as if he was contemplating if he should say more or not, before he spoke again.
"Are you okay?"
You looked at him, stunned.
The pain was still in his eyes but it was mingling with concern and you couldn't help but feel like you could trust this mysterious stranger.
"Not really."
His eyebrows furrowed, crinkling his forehead, "I thought not... want to talk about it?"
You knew you didn't have to tell this complete stranger where you were going or what you were doing, but you really did feel like you could trust him, and something in you wanted to talk about it with him.
"I'm going to the cemetery," you said thickly.
Calum's eyes widened in understanding before he cleared his throat and drew his eyes downcast, "I'm sorry. If it helps any, I'm going there, too."
With your eyebrows shooting up, you turned to him skeptically, "Why?"
Flinching slightly, he met your gaze with his sad one and said, "My mom; she died a year ago."
Oh, the irony.
Choking up, you felt tears pool in your eyes as an image of your own mom flashed in your mind before you brushed the tears away and the image with them, "My mom died a year ago, too."
"Wow... I'm sorry," Calum said, and you could see the sincerity in his gaze.
His hand twitched as if he was going to hold yours for comfort but decided against it, moving it to his lap instead.
Reaching out, you took his hand in yours before rubbing the back of his hand comfortingly.
Even though he was trying to hide it, small tears were slipping down his eyes and before he knew it, he was all out crying.
You couldn't help but let your own tears fall as you watched him cry, and before you could stop yourself, you were saying, "We can go together. We can see them together if you want, so that we won't have to be alone."
Nodding, Calum agreed before looking at you from under his long, tear-ridden eyelashes, "Sorry for making you cry."
Shrugging, you managed the ghost of a smile before saying, "It's okay. It was going to happen sooner or later."
The bus stopped and the both of you stood up, still hand-in-hand, and walked out of the bus toward the entrance of the cemetery.
The cemetery was relatively small with gravestones, old and new, decorating the land. It was easy to find your mom and his mom. The small stones were only a couple spaces apart. A wave of grief crashed over you as you stood in front of her grave, and you couldn't help but collapse onto your knees and sob into your hands.
You missed her so fucking much.
Calum slowly crouched down next to you before wrapping his arms around your body and letting his own tears flow freely once more.
"I miss her," you said between sobs.
"I miss her, too," he murmured back.
Even though the both of you met less than an hour ago, a special bond had formed between the both of you during that time, and you couldn't help but feel for him as you wept over your deceased.mothers.
Death might have taken someone from you, but it gave you someone, too.
