Short Story (and poetry) Collection

~Shards of Trust~

The two kids sad complacently by the cliff edge. The wind was roaring in their ears and spitting sea spray harshly at their faces, making their skin rosy pink. Gulls flew about the sky, the occasional bird swooping to the choppy ocean surface in hopes of catching something to eat.
Between them, words were seldom traded but that didn't matter. Their company was all that they needed. Though the sea was rough and the weather wild, the mood between the kids was calm and peaceful. They were at ease here.

"I was just thinking," began the first. "What does it mean to trust a person? Like... really trust somebody?"

The other raised an eyebrow, tilting their head in the direction of the first. "That came out of nowhere."

"I know, I was just thinking."

"Well, I think there are 3 kinds of trust, and here me out on this one," the second began. "Trust like glass, like ice and like china."

"What's China got to do with anything?" The first frowned at the other kid.

"Not China china, like pottery china."

"Oh," the first kid nodded. "Ok right. Please elaborate on your... analogy."

"Trust right - it's one of those things that takes forever to build up and mere seconds to lose - is like creating a sculpture out of ice or glass or clay. Then you drop it. You follow?" The second kid looked at the first expectantly.

The first stared blankly. "Mm."

The second sighed. "Making a sculpture or piece of art takes time and patience. Then if you drop your sculpture, it breaks no matter how much time you'd put into it. Glass right, if you drop a glass sculpture it shatters into millions of tiny shards. Same with ice. The difference between the two is that glass would cut your feet if you were to accidentally step on it."

"What's this got to do with anything?"

"Just here me out, ok? If you step on ice, it's not as bad because it melts. Glass'll cut you deep. Plus, you'll have to start the ice sculpture from scratch if the pieces melt. You could rebuild the glass one with surviving pieces, but it would be tedious. Either way, you'll never be able to rebuild it the exactly same as it was before. Now take a china cup for example, if you drop that you might still get a few tiny shards but it'll generally be bigger pieces, right? You can put those back together with more ease."

"Right.." the first kid seemed sceptical.

"It won't be exactly the same, but it'll resemble what it used to be. You'll still see the cracks but it'll be basically the same, right? That's like trust."

"I thought you were on about sculptures."

"Well... yeah, same thing. Trust isn't easy to describe."

"I bet I could do a better job than you," the first smiled.

"Alright."

"Trust is something that you build between two people, or more I guess. Yeah, it takes forever to build it to the point that you would give one's soul for the other, and it takes so little to turn it all upside down. If your trust is weak, if your connection, your bond is flawed, it's easy to break apart. Like if you don't put your Lego blocks together properly, y'know?"

"Alright," the second said again.

"Yeah. But if you do it right, it'll be pretty darn tough to break your trust, like when you have those really tough Lego blocks that don't come apart no matter what you put them through. I like to think that's us."

"You got me, I was Lego this whole time," the kid grinned.

"'Guess that makes two of us."

"So you're saying you'd trust me with your life then?"

"Of course I would, but maybe not my phone."

The sea chaos seemed to settle, the winds quietens around the pair and clouds seemed to part for this shared moment between two young people.

"I trust you too."