Kings and Queens

O R E N D A

(N.)
~ "a mystical force present in all people that empowers them to affect the world, or to effect change in their own lives." ~

I couldn't sleep that night.

I tossed and turned in my flimsy sheets wondering what life would be like if things were different.
How flipped around my world would be.

What if my mother was alive?

What if the accident never happened?

The what ifs seemed to encompass me in a swirl of overwhelming emotion, and I no longer wanted to force myself to endure the chest tightening pain.

I grabbed my New York City sweatshirt and threw on my black skinny jeans. Once more my hair was an untamable mess so I threw it up into a top knot in effort to calm the beast.

I walked out the door and ran to ease the hurt.

The cold air immediately entered my lungs as I breathed heavily, the fatigue hitting me as my feet slammed into the pavement. Eventually my lungs felt as if there were about to burst, and my heartbeat mimicked the fast pace of a beating drum.

This is what you get for flunking gym in high school

I came to a stop at a nearby park bench, and then it happened.

The emotion hit me like a freight train.

Tears began to run down my face like a tsunami as I curled into a ball and wrapped my arms around my knees.

Rain began to pour and I cried even harder not knowing where I was, and the fact that it was pitch black and pouring rain.

Suddenly the rain ceased to fall above my head.

"Excuse me miss?" I looked up to see a young man in a trench coat carrying a black umbrella

Malachi

"Olivia is everything okay?"

My eyes fell to the ground "yeah" I weakly smiled.

"Olivia," he said gently as he sat next to me on the park bench

"What's wrong?"

The walls inside of me finally collapsed as I forced myself to look at him. His turquoise eyes filled with concern, as if he truly wanted to help me. I cried even harder knowing that I had never had someone in my life that was so willing to let me show my wounds.

"Do you ever miss someone so much that it hurts?" My voice cracked as I spoke in the silence.

"Yes" he replied solemnly as he weakly smiled.

"I miss her"

He handed me his umbrella, and soon the rain began to soak his hair as well as his jacket.

"Who do you miss Olivia?"

"My mother" I replied.

"I miss the way she would make me tea when I couldn't fall asleep at night, I miss how she would read me stories in silly voices, I miss the way she always smelled like fresh strawberries, I miss her beautiful laugh, I miss her smile , I miss her hugs that seemed to make you feel whole again, and I just miss her."

He smiled at me sadly as tears fell slowly down my cheeks.

"I'm tired of having no one to talk to and having to bottle everything up inside and hoping the dams inside me don't burst, but yet here I am crying on a park bench in the rain at 8:00 at night."

"It's actually 9:30" he replied with a cheeky grin

"Olivia, please don't ever feel like you are alone. We were meant to meet for a reason, and I am very grateful that we did. We all reach a breaking point, but we all repair in time."