Six Years of Sadness

It was early in the morning, the sun was just rising over the horizon, and the sound of leaves rustling in the wind filled the almost silent morning. A young man was waking up to the sun bouncing off a mirror and hitting his face.

He sat up feeling very tired. His dirty blonde hair was a complete mess and his emerald eyes had trouble staying open. He grabbed a glass bottle that was next to his bed. In it, there was a liquid that looked like water but had a very powerful smell. He took a swig from the bottle and a powerful bitter taste filled his mouth, waking him instantly.

He stayed in his bed unmoving with a blank expression. The sound of a clock ticking on the wall filled the room.

Though the clock was the only thing that could be heard, for the young man the ringing in his ears was all he could hear. He stared at his reflection from his bed. His gaze met his own as he stared into the void that was his eyes.

Slowly the ringing in his ears quieted and the sound of his heart replaced it. His breathing began to speed up as his heart beat faster.

The time that he spent staring at himself felt like an eternity when in reality it had only been a few minutes. Soon after, he snapped out of his haze and took another swig from his bottle.

Getting out of bed, he began to get dressed while avoiding eye contact with the mirror. He checked the time on the clock and saw that it was almost 6:30. He looked sad but decided to take one last sip from the bottle before leaving the room.

Heading downstairs, he walked into his living room. In the living room in a wheelchair, an old lady was sitting on it while looking out a window.

"Morning." The young man said as he walk past.

The old lady didn't react or move. She continued staring outside.

He made his way towards the kitchen in the back of the house. There he started to grab ingredients to make himself a meal.

He toasted some bread and poured himself a cup of juice. Along with that, he got some jelly spread on his toast and slice an apple.

It didn't take long for him to finish his food. After he was done he got more fruits to cut up. He placed them on a plate and moved the plate onto a tray. Next to the tray, there was a glass of water.

He picked up the tray and walked to the living room. Making his way to the living room, he walk up to the old lady and placed the tray on a table next to her.

The only lady saw him put the tray down and turned to face him. "Who are you?" The old lady asked with a genuine face of confusion.

"I'm a friend," the young man said with a smile.

The old lady, still with a confused face asked, "Have you seen my son Marcus?"

The young man kept smiling and replied, "He left early to go to work. He'll be back later tonight."

Hearing this, the old lady's face became sad. She slowly turned her head to face the window as she said, "Oh, okay."

The young man felt bad seeing the old lady look sad, but he didn't let that get him down. He grabbed the plate of fruit and showed it to the old lady. "Here, I brought you some slices of fruit."

The old lady turned to see the fruit and perked up. "Thank you so much. You're a sweet boy."

The young man moved the table with the fruit closer to the old lady. The old lady grabbed a slice of fruit and began to eat.

After eating a few bites, the old lady's face went blank and she turn to face the young man again. She stared at him for a few seconds before asking, "Who are you?"

The young man was unfazed by this and replied, "I'm a friend."

The old lady didn't say anything else and just turned to continue looking out the window. Outside of the window, there was a large field that was moving in the wind.

The young man left the old lady and walked toward the front door. Near the door, there was a bag and a pair of keys on the wall. As he grabbed them off the wall he said, "Ms. Rue will be here soon to take care of you."

The old lady stayed quiet and unmoving. Her gaze was fixed on the window.

The young man opened the front door ready to leave, but before he did he said one last thing. "I'll be back later grandma."

He didn't wait for her to say anything. Instead, he just walked out of the house.

Walking out of the house, the young man made his way to the market near the town center. His face changed from looking a bit sad to looking very smug. His walk was filled with confidence and no one could tell what he was thinking. While he walked to the market he was whistling to himself. Everyone he passed gave him a wave or said good morning to him.

It didn't take him long to reach the market. Once there, he walked up to a stand that had a bunch of fruits and flowers.

The man behind the stand saw the young man walking towards him and said, "Morning Kevin. Is it the first of the month already?"

"Yes, it is," Kevin replied.

"I take it you're here to get the usual then?" the man behind the stand asked.

"You know it," Kevin replied with a smile, giving the man a thumbs up.

The man nodded at Kevin and began to gather some things. He grabbed two bouquets of flowers and handed them to Kevin. Afterward, he placed a few select fruits and placed them in a basket for Kevin.

Once Kevin received the items, he Tried to pay the man but was told that it was on the house.

Kevin felt bad for not paying, but the man reassured him that it was fine, and to go do what has to do. Kevin smiled and nodded to thank the man. After that, he made his way to the outskirts of the village.

On the way there, Kevin ran into many of his friends. He would stop to have a small chat with each of them before moving on. One group of friends he encountered was Ian, Emmett, and Ellie.

The three of them saw Kevin heading their way and chose to greet him. They didn't want to take up too much of his time so they said their hellos and went their separate ways.

Once he reached the outskirts of the village, Kevin found himself in front of a cemetery. The cemetery was a small one. It was only an acre in size and was surrounded by a metal fence.

Kevin entered the cemetery and went straight to a tree in the back. In front of the tree, there were two tombstones. Upon the two tombstones were the names, Marcus and Nicole Willow.

Kevin stood still, staring at the tombstone for a while. The wind made his hair and clothes move around slowly, but besides that, he didn't move an inch.

After a minute, Kevin finally said, "Morning mom…morning dad. I've come to visit again."

Kevin then place a bouquet next to each tombstone as he said, "I brought you both some flowers."

"I also brought you some of your favorite fruits." He said as he placed an orange on his dad's tombstone and a peach on his mom's tombstone.

After placing the fruits down, he chose to sit down in between the tombstones. His mouth was smiling but his eyes looked teary.

"If only I were older and a bit stronger. I could've helped, but I couldn't do anything." Kevin struggled to say this as tears ran down his face. He took a moment to let the tears flow and to allow his voice to shake in anger and sadness.

After a few minutes, Kevin finally settled down. He wiped the tears off his face trying to clean himself, before saying, "It's been six years, and not one day goes by where I don't miss you."

Kevin decided to lie down on the grass afterward. He kept staring at the sky as he said, "I'll be applying to the academy in a few months. When that happens I won't be able to visit for a while."

Slowly, Kevin began to fall asleep. He tried to keep his eyes open but after a while, he drifted into sleep.

A couple of hours had passed before Kevin woke up. When he did wake up, he took another look at his parent's tombstones. The next moment, Kevin grabbed his bag and pulled out a few cleaning supplies. He Brushed and washed the tombstone until they looked like new.

Once he was done, he packed up. As he did, he said, "I'll be back next month like I always do. Until then…stay safe." Finally, Kevin finished packing and headed out.