Ten Years Later
I dusted the soil and grass off my shoes.
"Mommy, where are we going?" My five-year old daughter asked me. She had brown hair and big brown eyes, glancing around curiously.
"I made a promise ten years ago," I told her, "I was avoiding this but," I chuckled nervously, "here I am."
"What was the promise?" She questioned me, kicking at the dirt.
"Um, we're going to meet some people that used to mean very much to me."
And that's when the tombstones came into sight. We walked through the fieldy area, one of my hands holding hers, the other holding flowers.
Amelia, my daughter, squeezed my hand tighter.
"I'm scared, Mommy,"
"Don't worry, honey," I reassured her, but I was scared too.
There were some things in my past that I tried my best to run away from, because I knew how upset it would make me. But I finally had to face my fears.
A couple of silhouettes appeared, standing before a tombstone.
"Who are they?" Amelia shakily asked.
"Just a couple of my old friends,"
The silhouettes came into focus and they became faces and bodies. Familiar yet I feel like I barely know them. The sadness was visibe on both of their faces.
"Hello," I mumbled. Tom smiled sadly back at me. He had dark bags under his eyes and manly stubble. Before he was looking at me, his eyes were fixed on the words inscripted on the tombstone.
I could hardly force myself to read what was written.
In loving memory of Kayla Summers,
"Life is not measured
By the number of breaths we take,
But by the moments
That take our breath away."
Tears prickled my eyes as I turned to Matt. His skin looked pale and his hair was messy. He looked almost the same as when we were in university but more mature.
"Amelia," I looked down at her, "Meet your dad."
She looked up at me, confused.
"I don't have a dad."
"Remember, I told you that we, uh, seperated," I told her.
She stayed silent and still clung onto me.
When I was pregnant with Amelia, Matt was continuously going out and drinking and coming home at three in the morning until one day I had enough. We were engaged at the time and that was the last straw.
And about Kayla. She died this time last year. She and Tom were married for a couple of years and she was pregnant. But, unfortunately, she, and her baby, both died in childbirth. Matt and I lost ties with Kayla and Tom after university. We went our separate ways.
Until we got a text from Tom arranging to meet up today. I didn't go to her funeral since I just knew that I wouldn't be able to stand it. But today, it was hard but I knew that I had to go, for Kayla.
I walked to the headstone and placed the bright, colourful flowers in front of it.
She was probably the most optimistic person I had ever met. Kayla always managed to make you smile when you were down. There was never a dull moment when you were with her.
Tom and Matt had already put their flowers down and then we all stood in a line, Tom on my left, Matt on my right and Amelia in front of me. Tears were falling down my face and Tom was crying silently into a handkerchief. I put my arm around his waist comfortingly.
Matt was staring sadly at the flowers. I could sense how much sadness he was feeling, how much sadness we were all feeling.
I took his hand in mine and squeezed it, reassuring him that it was all going to be okay.