𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐲 𝐌𝐞 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 ✧ (𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐝) [on hold]

✧ Chapter 11 : The Angel Wings ✧

It started raining when I arrived at the cemetery. At least the weather reflected my mood pretty accurately. It was constantly drizzling inside my head.

It wasn't quite cold enough outside to make me shiver. The cool wind was playing a quiet melody with the branches of the naked trees and the evergreen leaves that wouldn't waltz in the air like the others.

The sun was absent, hidden under a mattress of thick clouds that painted the whole sky a light grey.

It was odd how beautiful autumn could be, because everything around us was either dying or falling into a deep sleep. I guessed that is why we call it 'fall'.

But the colors that made the whole beauty of it had tarnished, yet without giving way to the immaculate snow nor to the clear blue sky.

In this instant, we were in the middle of a painful transition between two beautiful phases of life. Once again, I guessed that illustrated my current situation perfectly.

I wandered around the foggy cemetery for a little while, until I found what I was looking for. Helena's grave. She was there, lying in the ground below me, beginning her eternal sleep. I wished I had thought to bring her flowers.

I fell on my knees in front of the tombstone and sobs started making me shake. I closed my eyes and looked down. So... This is it? It's over? I stay here, and she goes away?

My tears got lost in the middle of the raindrops falling on my face. It seemed that the more I cried, the more it was raining. I should have brought something to cover myself.

Suddenly, the rain stopped soaking me - but what surprised me was that the noise it made hadn't. I opened my eyes; it was still raining. I looked up and saw I had an umbrella being held above my head. I looked behind me.

Frank.

He was there, behind me, holding an umbrella above me in spite of the army of raindrops that had started attacking him as soon as he had given up on his own protection.

He looked pained - perhaps was he empathizing with me. Something was telling me that I was going to have to get accustomed to that look on his face. It suited him more than the angry frown - that doesn't mean I wished him to be miserable for that reason.

Frank sat down next to me, hiding us both under his black umbrella. He didn't speak a word. He granted me the silence he knew I needed.

How did he know? How could he? Only hypotheses could be made. And most of them revealed a tragic side of Frank's character I could never had seen a few weeks ago - maybe because he would never have let me see it.

How foolish was I back then to think I could see and understand all the complexity of his entire being at first sight?

I looked back at the tombstone and the name carved on it. "I'm so sorry for your loss. I know how much she mattered to you," Frank said quietly. "It's okay if you need to cry, I won't judge."

I didn't know if it was the mention of crying or the kind words Frank had spoken, but I started crying again. I sensed an arm being wrapped around me, then a second one pulling me into a supportive hug I would have declined if Frank had asked me. But once I was in his arms, I realized how much I needed the embrace and completely let go of all my tears on Frank's shoulder.

"Shhh... She's gone, Gerard. You have to let her go. You can't bring her back," Frank said softly - I even perceived a hint of sadness in his voice.

I nodded against his shoulder, whimpering. "T-thank you. Thank you for telling me," I sobbed out. Frank muttered an 'of course' and hugged me the best he could while holding his umbrella.