Before

Hope Is For The Foolish

    She stared at him in admiration.
        "This picture, it was taken on his eighteenth birthday. Before he begged and begged for me to let him out into the city. I said, fine. But he must take his brother's," Still smiling she laid a hand on Joss's shoulder.
      "Stone was more stubborn than a mule, that boy. But surprisingly his interest in exploring the world, outweighed his fight in going alone."
        "Where are all of your sons?" Eliza asked, peering up from the book that rested on her lap.
       "They're all scattered abroad this great big world. They're not worried about their old little mother. Haha I'm just joking," She laughed, and it was soft and loving. So we all mustered up a soft one as well. "Oh don't force yourself, old aunt Luna has always failed in the humor department."
       Pouring herself a cup of lemonade, she handed me a cup as well. "Levi got married had a few children, and moved to the states. While Iven, became a detective. To this day he still searches for his brother."
         My eyes wandered back to the frame, back to Stone. Sorrow filled my heart, as I only assumed he was the one that was missing out of the three.
         Her blonde curled hair rested passed her shoulders, and her sun hat draped over her small forehead. Her wrinkles were a minimum, but I could tell she smiled this abundantly many years ago, because the crinkles beside her mouth were the only sign of aging.
        "Stone went missing a couple of days after, I let him go explore the city. I should have never done that. Levi and Iven say, they found a nice pub, they let Stone have at a few drinks.
      And as they were heading back home, a few policemen stopped them. Stone and his anger, caused the men to shake him up, punching, and kicking. He was bloody before a multitude got them off of him.
Yet this wasn't enough. They grabbed him, cuffed him up, and made him sit in the city jail for an entire week.
           Levi and Iven picked him up from the station, he seemed alright they say. When Stone arrived home, he was back to normal. My good boy, he was.
      But that night, something struck in Stone, he emptied his bedroom of his things, and ran away in the midnight moon. We never saw him again, not a letter, not a postcard. He completely was wiped from ever existing. We searched, oh, we searched high and low for him.
     But there was nothing. After a decade and some change Vikter lost his hope, and began to hit the bottle for a sense of stability.
         And that went downhill fast. It took a lot to get him back to reality, but even I knew that it was hard. Our boy was lost in the very world we tried to protect him from, trying to survive and learn the ropes all by himself.
         All I could hope as a mother, was that my boy was still alive somewhere. I checked everywhere, the morgue, the newspaper, I pestered the detectives and the officers. If they find my son dead or alive I want to see him. I didn't care I wanted to see him.
          To this day I still check the news for missing men, I ask around when I can.
        You can't lose hope on things like this. Especially when you feel it deep into the blood cells of your very body, that he's alive, that he is well. He just hasn't made his way back to me yet.
         I remember the week after Stone went missing, an officer came to our home, and he sat down with his large belly, and even larger ego.
       Eating a doughnut, I know how cliche, but he was darlings."
            This time really laughing, Joss, swung his arm into mine, feeling the sting, I slapped him back. Still laughing, he shoved me once more.
     "He sat there in my house in front of me, my husband, and my boys. And told me simply.
        That hope is for the foolish, if your son was alive we would have found him. If your son wanted to be found, we would have found him. If your son were to be dead in a river, we would have found him. Don't lose sleep tonight worrying about the outcome of something you already know isn't going to happen."
    "What did you say to him Aunt Luna?" Her brows raised as she held on to her cup.
     "What did I say? Well I let my fist do the talking." Now taking a sip proudly, everyone really busted into a fit of laughter.