Published August 27, 2014
Dear Stranger,
On my way home some days I turn the corner and take a shortcut through the cemetery. I’ve been there so many times that I think the creepiness has become pretty much non-existent to me and that day wasn’t much different. I walked slowly along the stone covered path, my eyes lazily wandering around the graveyard, skipping from headstone to headstone, pausing slightly when I passed names I recognised.
And that’s when I spotted you.
You were surrounded by a myriad of gravestones but you were only interested in one. You were kneeling in front of it almost as if your legs had given out, unable to take the weight of the troubles you were so clearly bearing. Your eyes were fixed on the gravestone, it was new, barely even a few months old. You were holding a bouquet of flowers on your lap and as you whispered to the stone, I stopped walking and instead stood frozen as I realised something. I knew you.You wore the same uniform I wore. You were in the year below. I knew you.
I remember hearing whispers of a death. A student had lost her older sister in a fatal car crash. It was then, as I silently watched you kneeling by her grave, that that student had been you.
And suddenly I was eleven years old again. Left hand clutching my mother’s hand and my right hand clutching my dad’s. Tears streaming down my face as I watched them lower Ronnie’s coffin into the ground. My best friend. The pouring rain which accompanied late autumn was cruel but fitting and I wanted to scream. Tell them it had to be a mistake, and that somehow, my best friend was still alive.
I never hid my grief like you did. I never tamed it because I never had too. But you, you had to be strong and hold everything together when everyone else was falling apart. It didn’t surprise me when all of a sudden you started crying. Not silently or controlled, but loud and unrestrained. It was all the pent up rage, grief and sadness you stored. For a second I contemplated running over to you and offering you a shoulder to cry on and give you reassuring fantasies about how it was going to be alright. That tomorrow was a new day, and brought with it less pain.
I almost did.
Almost.
But I realised that this was your moment of peace in the chaos that surrounded your everyday life. So with a heavy heart, I turned and went on my way.
I am writing this letter in the same cemetery I saw you in that day. I’m sitting on a hilltop under a massive oak tree and I can see the whole graveyard. It’s eerily silent this early on a freezing cold morning, and for some reason, I prefer it when it is like this. Usually it gives me time to think, today my train of thought being focussed on you.
I’m writing this letter to tell you all the things I wish I had the bravery to tell you back then. I want you to know that it does get better. The pain of losing those you love is one of, if not the most, painful experiences a person can endure. Death is not fair and it could never claim to be kind. I won’t lie to you, time doesn’t heal the pain. It numbs. The pain you feel that first instant will remain as long as you live. You learn to live with it because it becomes a part of you. I stumbled and crashed through the death of one of my best friends only a few years ago and it still hurts, every single day, only the pain is not as prominent.
There’s a certain quote from Harry Potter, said by Sirius Black. “The ones that love us never really leave us.”
It’s heart-breaking and true. And I want you to know that it IS true. I also want you to know that you are the bravest person I have ever encountered. I have so much respect for you, and I don't even know you. I wish I did. But I'll never tell you. I'm sorry for that, but I'm just not as brave as you are.
Love
Anne x
Points:
Time spent:
IP address:
Canary word: Present
Possible AI signals:
Original Text:
Are you sure you want to delete this comment? This cannot be undone.
Mark this comment as a review? Points will be awarded to the poster.
Your comment was posted, but it wasn’t long enough to count as a review. Reviews need about four complete sentences (at least 250 characters). Try writing another review that explains your thoughts in more detail — the author will appreciate it, and you’ll earn points for it.
140,813 Literary Works • 673,694 Reviews
My God, that was beautiful. I was literally begging you to go and offer the girl a shoulder to cry on. But at end when you called her the bravest person you met, I was really glad you didn't. And the part about time not healing the wounds but rather give us the strength to live with it is so true. Nicely written and actually made me emotional. A very good job. And if the part about the loss is in deed true then you clearly have the strength to cope with your loss. If it isn't, then thank you for writing this and trying with our emotions :3
thank you
it true I lost Ronnie to leukaemia 
Your story was yanking at the heartstrings I never knew I held, It was sorrowfully beautiful. When I read this letter, I felt a massive connection with the two characters. And when you wrote the a letter type structure (great idea by the way
) I felt as if you wrote the letter to those who knows this pain, and I believe any reader would agree they felt the same way. I recognize this knife like pain, especially when you have no one to hold you and comfort you (such as myself), I had to stay strong everyday of my life , even now, and almost gave up on myself. But I realized I don't have hope there is none, but there is me and only one me, and reading this letter form story, made me a bit stronger once again. It was amazing it made me smile when you expressed that the cemetery was at first creepy to the character, but then that feeling eventually dies. The cemetery is a sad place filled with memories, and broken hearts, yet it's beautiful, and the lost loved ones deserve beauty. Thank you so much for sharing this amazing short story, and rock on!
Aw thank you
No problem!
Hello!
Wow. This was really heartbreaking and touching, and beautiful, all rolled into one short story. If you've ever lost a loved one (which I have) you can definitely relate. And sometimes, when you see someone else hurting in the same way that you've hurt before, all the pain comes back -- and you want nothing more than to comfort that person and tell them you're there for him/her. But I've never before heard that feeling expressed as well as you did here. And I like how you put it in the form of a letter. Unique idea!
One thing I noticed was this sentence: "Usually it gives me time to think, today my train of thought being focussed on you."
It's worded rather awkwardly (the word "being" does that to a sentence). Maybe if you said something like, "Usually it gives me time to think, and today my train of thought is focused on you."
Good job, though -- keep writing!!
~WritingforHim99
Thank you
God, this is beautiful. I can't say enough about this. I don't even know where to start. I absolutely adore the way you capture the pause between doing something or staying back. I agree that it is often times hard to say certain things to people we don't know all that well. The description in here was quite vivid. I love the line, "It didn’t surprise me when all of a sudden you started crying. Not silently or controlled, but loud and unrestrained." because when all of those pent up emotions come out...it's not forced as if you're going to a funeral and you shake a few tears out...it's raw emotion and you definitely captured it. Than you so much for sharing!
Aww! thank you so so much
Hey! Nice story you got here
- was awesome! Very hooking, very unique, very interesting!
for all the "not-so-goods", just take a quick read through. You'll find them and fix them pretty easily
To start off, the description - although short, because we're only allowed like 150 characters
I'll start off with the not-so-good things, so we can end on a good note!
-you switch from present to past tense during the letter, and that makes the story a little off balanced
-some of your sentences tend to drag on. Like, they're not run-ons in the literal sense, but it's like you stretched them to their limit and they're breaking.
Now onto the good things! YAY!
-you have an absolutely amazing use of description! It's something that can be lost in a letter like this, but you managed to keep it hooked along, which is good. That's talent
-great word choice!
-I love how you capture the emotion of the boy! nice work there, it was almost like I felt his sadness
As a whole, this was good! I enjoyed it
Happy writing!
Aw thank you
This was great!
You had me in tears.
I lost my great-grandma 2 months ago, and before then death didn't really matter to me.
Now I feel the same as the narrator in this story.
You are a great writer
People like me need this kind of encouragement.
Keep writing!!!!!
I'm so sorry for you loss
Thank you so much though! 