The Brave and the Broken

Who Cares

Weep: to cry because you feel unhappy or have some other strong emotion

     I sat down, trying my best to process everything that just happened. I put my head in my hands and, before I could stop it, a tear ran down my face. I wiped it aggressively away with my sleeve.

     "No," I thought out loud, "I am not going to cry about this." I willed myself to stop but it was too late; the next thing I knew, tears were streaming down my face. I heard the door start to open and quickly wiped the tears away. There was no way I was going to let anyone see me cry. But when I looked up, I realized it was too late. Gally was standing there awkwardly, taking in the situation with wide eyes, not knowing what to do.

     "Hey, Captain Gally," I said after a short moment of awkward silence.

     "Are—are you okay?" He asked.

     "Yeah," I replied, forcing a smile, "I'm fine."

     "You didn't seem fine just a second ago," he countered. Looks like I'm not getting out of this one, I thought.

     "No, yeah. I'm fine, really. I just—I just," I didn't finish, not sure what else to say; I honestly didn't know exactly why I was crying. I felt stupid; like there was something wrong with me because I was crying for no apparent reason. I suddenly felt embarrassed and felt my face redden. My eyes started to water again and I silently willed them to stop but there was no point, they wouldn't stop. He came and sat down next to me on the bench. I forced myself not to look at him at first, for fear that I would no longer be able to hold the tears in if I allowed myself to look him in the eyes. I put my face in my hands. "I honestly don't know," I finished, my voice cracking slightly at the last word.

     "You don't have to."

     Not sure what else to say, I finally allowed myself to looked up at him. His eyes were distant but he was looking at me. He didn't say anything else either, but he did pull a bandana out of his pocket. He reached for my face with it, but stopped himself and handed it to me instead. I accepted it, letting out a quiet "thank you" and using it to wipe the tears from my face, rather than using my sleeve this time. He awkwardly patted me on the leg then stood. We locked eyes for a long moment before he turned to leave.

     "Gally," I said before he left. He turned back around, and we locked eyes again. "Thank you," I said again. He nodded, smiling sadly, then left.

     I don't know how long I sat there—crying, thinking, trying to regain my composure—but everyone was carrying on with their day like normal when I left the building. Everyone was still working, doing their part; just as I would soon have to. Not knowing what else to do, I started to make my way to the big building I came from earlier.

     "Hey, Greenie," I heard from behind me. Great. Just great. Talking to some stranger was definitely not what I needed at the moment and everyone was really getting on my nerves constantly calling me "Greenie" or "Greenbean" or whatever. I whipped around to face the boy.

     "Marie," I corrected, as usual. Upon turning, I realized that it was the Ben guy from earlier, along with a tan-skinned brown-haired boy whom I had not met yet. I sighed. "Hey, Ben. What is it?"

     "Well, Greenie," I glared at him but he just smirked and went on, "we're having another bonfire tonight."

     "And?"

     "And we were wondering if you were actually gonna come tonight or if you were gonna faint again." He gestured to his friend at the word "we". And for some reason, he winked at me.