The Love Of A Lifetime

An Unjust World

   It was hot summers afternoon; my sandal straps dug into my swollen feet and my back ached. I was sat on a park bench, watching people's lives play out before me as the cicadas sang.

   I rubbed my bulging belly as I considered the unjust world my baby would be brought into in just a few months' time.  Today the man who had murdered my Liam was sentenced to only seven years in prison, with the possibility of parole in just five. How could the system only demand that monster to feel seven years of torment, when mine will last for the rest of my life. That monster had taken the love of my life from me, had ensured our baby would never know their father, and for that he was only sentenced to seven years?!

   It was then that Linda, Liam's eighteen year old little sister, joined me on the bench. She didn't say anything at first, she simply held my hand and watched the rest of the world with me. I'm not sure how long we sat like that, it could've been minutes or hours, I couldn't tell you, but eventually she turned her body towards mine. Linda's long chocolate hair, the exact shade of Liam's, was pulled up in a high bun, her green eyes were shining like glass; she had been crying. 

   "It's not fair, his sentence," she said to me quietly. "He took Liam from us. Seven years isn't enough."

   I simply sat there watching her as she struggled to keep her tears in check. It was something they had all been doing for the past few months, Liam's sisters Linda and Lisa, who was sixteen, his mum Lily and his dad Lucas. They've been trying to hide their pain from me, worried that their pain would somehow hurt the baby. It was sweet; one of the things I loved about the Blake's was the way they took care of others, even at the expense of themselves, but at this point I just wanted someone to be real with me, to be sad with me, and to be angry with me.

 "I'm not going to sit here, saying a whole bunch of stuff that isn't true to make you feel better. The fact of the matter is that, this sucks. A lot. And there are no words that will ever make Liam being gone okay, no amount of time that will make up for losing him. The truth is that I'm sad almost all the time, and when I'm not sad, I'm angry. And I think you get that," she sniffled.

   "But here's the thing. Even though Liam's gone, that doesn't mean our lives stop, even though it feels like they do. We have to keep living, because what the hell else are we gunna do? So we're going to keep living, even if it hurts like hell. And we're gunna do it for my little niece or nephew," she smiled sadly, rubbing my baby bump.

   "And we're gunna do it for Liam."