Silence is Golden

Chapter 39: April 2013

"Hello?" A voice called out from the back of the church.

I looked up to see the priest walking towards me. He sees me and smiles.

"Are you here to talk?"

I stared at him, hugging my drawings that had gotten much more crumpled through the rough journey they had been through and the picture frame that held the picture of Rain closer to me. However, he seemed to understand.

"You must be the mute." He commented.

Can you, my hands were shaking, tell me about her?

He gave a long sigh, blinking aways stray tears.

"Rain had been coming to this Church for as long as I can remember." He looked at me with his sad eyes as I waited for him to continue.

She was such a sweet girl, always so understanding. Adventurous. You know? Always interupting the survice. Not thst I care, nobody cared, everybody loved her. Every Sunday, after service, she would come talk to me, telling me something new that happened to her. Made friends with everybody she met. She had such a valuable gift that I had never seen anybody possess before: she never sees any flaws in anybody, loving everybody who had a soul. I never met anybody who was so kind.

"She stopped coming to Church just before the start of high school for her. I was getting worried. I started to miss her, the joy she brought through those doors every Sunday morning. I missed listening to her creazy stories. I thought I'd never see her again. However, about a year ago, just before she left for college, she came back for one more confession. When I saw her, she just looked so sad. There was nothing left in her, no spring in her step, nothing. She told me everything. I caught up with her life in high school, learning all about you and how much you changed her life for the better. She was still the same lovely girl I had met years ago. But she told me about the trial, how you left, she was torn. But she told me this. She told me, 'I will wait as long as it will take, even if all the stars in heaven died out, I will be with him again.'

He placed a gentle hand on my hand, gazing into my eyes, "you have no idea how much you meant to her."

Did she love me? I asked.

"Yes, she loved you more than anything."

I sunk further into the ground, absorbing everything that he had told me, tears welling back in my eyes. She truely loved me; that's all I wanted to hear. The one person that loved me was gone.

The Priest placed a hand on my shoulder. I wiped my eyes with my sleve, looking at him.

"Remember, my brother," He said. Jesus loves you.

On you, he placed his finger on my chest, right above the heart. I wanted to believe it, that somebody is out there that loved me. I just wanted to be with Rain.

Where is she? I asked.

He hoisted himself off the ground with a grunt as he began walking towards the exit.

"Follow me." He instructed.

He led me out of the church. It had started raining hard, the sun had disappeared behind the hills. He led me to the gravestone that had her name engraved on it. I ran passed him once I saw the stone, grabbing onto it, running my fingers over the letters. I didn't want it to be real; I didn't want her dead.

I brought these for you. I signed to her. I placed the stack of drawings in front of the stone. Quickly, I flipped through the drawings for her, now soaked with rain water. As if something bursted in me, I couldn't contain myself anymore.

You said you would wait for me! I grabbed onto the stone until my knuckles turned white. I...

Warms tears began trickling down my cheeks, blurring my vision. Do one more thing for me, I ran my fingers over the engraved letters of her name over and over again, stop. Just stop being dead.

Sitting down crosslegged, I waited as I watched the rain fall harder still, streams of water sliding down the gracestone. Puddles of rain formed all around me as more poured down from the dark skies above me. Droplets soaked into my drawings, the ink now blurred by the water. I waited as the rain soaked me to my bones. Slowly, she wrapped her arms around me, holding me in a tight embrace.

Rain, I missed you.

She smiled. I never left.