Mystery of Love - Conrad Fisher

Chapter 5 - Listening to him

For a minute im speechless, "What?" Is all I manage to say.

He just nods, as if he just agreed to something to eat.

"I needed to clear my head, too, you know? I come here almost every night after finding out two weeks ago." He takes another sip, "She used to bring us to this beach, me and my brother, to this very spot right here and play with us, she taught us how to swim right here."

I still haven't found the right words to use, so we sit in silence for a while. I have a feeling that it's what he needed, he seems to calm down.

After a few minutes, he starts talking again, "My brother doesn't know. He has no fucking clue and I can't tell him because I don't want him to feel the same way I do right now. He seems to be having fun at college, he found some new friends and always tells me about his new hook ups." He laughs, but it's not a real one - it sounds sad.

"How did you find out?" I ask him, putting my hand over his.

"I overheard a conversation she had with our dad." He takes another sip, giving the bottle back to me and I drink right after him, feeling the heaviness of this conversation and hoping the alcohol makes it easier.

"You helped me yesterday, you know. I've been coming here every night just getting wasted.. but last night I thought about something else for once." He looks at me like he's grateful that I was here, that I am here again.

"You helped me, too." I say.

"At some point I have to tell my mom that I know.. but it's so fucking hard, she's trying hard to cover it up, not showing any weakness. Whenever she feels tired or exhausted I get so scared that this is gonna be it... this is the moment I lose my mom."

I don't know what to say, so I put my arm around him and hug him. It doesn't feeling like I'm hugging a stranger, it feels like comforting a friend.

As the evening goes on we were just sitting there, not joking around like we did last night. When he got a text message from his brother asking where he is he promised me he'd be there tomorrow night as well and I promised him the same thing.