the kissing gate | simanda ✓

1. seen

Amanda creaked open the gate to the graveyard six months later. There was snow on the ground and it was pushed aside as she walked in. She walked towards the back of the graveyard with a bunch of poinsettia flowers in her hand. Amanda could make it easily to Chris' grave because the newer gravestones were all mainly marble ones.

She knelt down in between Chris' grave and another grave that she knew too well, not caring that her jeans were going to end up soaked through when she eventually would stand up. The grave beside Chris' was the grave of their stillborn son, Theo, that Amanda had given birth to at seven months pregnant after she had gone in for an ultrasound and there was no heartbeat heard.

Amanda separated the bunch of flowers in half and put one of the now two bunches onto Theo's grave. After he had been born, Amanda learned that coffins could be that small. She had cried for months on end after Theo was discovered dead in her womb and Chris had been there for her.

Four years after their miracle child, Hollie, was born, Chris was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The doctors didn't know how far along it was and that it was getting worse. A year of treatment went by and then it was discovered that the chemotherapy that was being used to treat Chris wasn't working anymore as the cancer had gotten to such a stage that it was untreatable.

That was when Amanda and Chris decided to stop treatment and let nature take its course. Six months later, Chris passed away. He had fought for a long time and the cancer beat him, taking his life.

Amanda placed the second bunch of poinsettias on Chris' grave wiping away a tear with a gloved hand.

"It's almost Christmas eve, Chris," Amanda spoke softly. "It's your favourite time of year right now. The girls are so excited but I see how sad they are because this is going to be our second Christmas with out you."

"I still miss you, Chris. Everyday I'm hoping this is just some horrible dream I'm going to wake up from and then I don't feel you cuddling me and I realize that this is reality."

She traced his name on the gravestone, something she had done since she started visiting Chris' grave in the graveyard. A few tears started to fall as she continued to talk to him and then the tears started coming rapidly. Amanda tried to wipe away the tears and her glove became soaked because of how heavily she was crying.

Amanda told him what the girls were doing in school and how they were doing in school. She told him that Lexi was still struggling in school but her grades were beginning to go up because she was getting tutoring.

She wiped away more of her tears and she heard someone come into the graveyard, going to a couple of graves that were near Chris and Theo's.

×

Simon went into the graveyard, looking around to see if there was anyone who could recognize him. There was one woman who was kneeling in between two graves with her head down so Simon was unable to see her face.

Simon moved through the graveyard to a spot near the woman who was kneeling at two graves. He went to his parents' grave and placed flowers down. His father had passed away in the late ninties and his mother passed away in 2015 and requested that she be buried next to Simon's father.

He could hear the woman talking softly to the graves and thought her voice was familiar. She sounded like Amanda, one of his friends that he worked with on Britain's got Talent. Simon knew that Amanda was a widow because of her husband dying from cancer last year, back in 2016. It was possible that the woman could be Amanda but he wouldn't know unless he asked.

Simon arranged the flowers around in the vase that was in between the graves of his parents and brushed the snow off the tops of the graves. He at least tried to clean up the two graves when he could, but it wasn't often as he was busy all the time. He tried to visit his parents on the days they died and sometime near Christmas to put flowers by their graves or on them.

He looked up and the woman was still talking to the two graves. She wiped away tears with the back of a hand.

"Amanda?" He asked, nearing the woman kneeling in between the two graves. She looked up at him and it was Amanda.

"Simon? What are you doing here?" She asked in reply, drying her tears and standing up, brushing the snow off of the lower legs of her jeans.

"My parents have graves here," he responded. "I didn't know you decided to bury your late husband here. How long has it been?"

"A year and a half. It's mine and my daughters' second Christmas without him. We all miss him so much," Amanda spoke and hiccuped, trying to force back the tears that were threatening to spill over.

"After a while it'll get better," Simon offered, trying to comfort Amanda. "At least that's how it was with each of my parents' passings."

"I know that it should be getting better by now but it isn't," Amanda said in reply. She wiped away a tear that had fallen. "Does it still hurt that they're gone?"

"It does sometimes," Simon replied, putting his hands into his coat pockets. "Especially around Christmas time and the days that they died."

"Do you want to go get a drink with me, Simon?" Amanda blurted out and then seemed to blush in the darkness but Simon wasn't sure if she was or not.

"Sure," he replied. He walked to the gate with Amanda following him and he held open the gate for her while she went through. The gate clanged shut and they started to walk down the road together.

[_] hey guys! What do you think is going to happen when Simon and Amanda get drunk? What did you like about this chapter? Bye until the next chapter!