The Long Run {c.g.}

Hello Again

Thank you so much for getting this story to 1k reads. Never in my wildest dream could I have imagined this would happen, but because of you guys, it has. All I have to say is thanks. This bonus chapter is for you.

˜˜˜

As you kick your legs back and forth, the waterlogged wood of the warm bench you are siting on creaks and moans.

Anxiousness fills your head. That feeling is in the air again, that nervous energy that buzzes around making you feel both excited and sick to your stomach. It always happens when there is about to be a new addition.

The weight of the park bench shifts. You turn your head to see your mother looking up at the trees as the wind blows through them. The warm glow of the sun lights up her face as she smiles. She still looks as beautiful as she did the day she died.

She plays with the ends of your hair and you sigh in content, leaning closer and resting your head on her shoulder. Even though you have been here for months now, you still miss her when she's not around. The time you now spend with not only her, but your whole family, too, makes up for the time when you lost them.

Everything is better up here.

"Do you know who it is this time?" You ask, hope tugging on your heart.

Your mother shakes her head lightly.

"I wasn't watching today, I don't know what's going on," She says.

You frown and look at the dirt at your feet. Using your big toe, you trace a heart and shade it in before facing your mother again.

"So, how are things down there?" You ask quietly. You mother sighs and rubs your bare arm.

"You would know if you just came to watch with me."

You just shake your head lightly. Unlike everyone else here, you never really liked the watching. It just gets too hard to see the people you love suffer, especially him.

He hasn't been the same since you left, he has changed more than ever before. He is no longer the broken, angsty teenager who hated the world. No, broken things can always be fixed. He is now someone who has been completely shattered and was never really put back together in the right way. He barely eats, barely sleeps, and when he does, it's only when he spends the night under the stars with one hand lightly grazing over the loose dirt of your grave.

As much as you want to, you can't reach him from where you are, and it hurts that you can't soothe his pain. See, the thing about watching the people still on Earth is that it isn't just gazing down from the clouds. If someone is up here and the one they love is still down there, the person whose soul is still intertwined with theirs, the one that has come here can sense whatever their loved one is feeling.

You can feel that he is miserable, you know that he is suffering without you, but you can't do anything about it. You can't go back and change what happened that night. You wish you could, but you can't. You close your eyes tight and take a deep breath before looking back up at your mother.

"Is it bad that I wish it's him? I know it's selfish, but I miss him," You say.

Your mother sighs and looks out over the deep green lake that is spread out in front of you.

"That is selfish, indeed," she says, "You should want for him a happy life, to move on and live a long time, but I can't blame you if you want him here. I felt the same when your father and I were apart."

You look back down and think deeply. You really do want him to be happy, but you know him, and you know that he can't be that without you. As selfish as it is, you want him here with you. You wish he was here because everything's just better here.