It was Always You

Rain trickled down over a quiet cemetery, giving the grass a vibrant green hue, that was freshly cut and well taken care of. The headstones were dull and gray. Some were more than a few centuries old, while others almost brand new. Fresh flowers laid on certain graves as others looked abandoned and forgotten through over time.

Trees grew every now and then throughout the cemetery. A young woman walked through the headstones and memorial statues, careful not to walk on the marked and unmarked graves. Holding a bouquet of Forget Me Not's and a small frame, she slowly observes the place. She noticed she was the only one present at this time of day of early morning. The horizon swiftly rose to give off an earthly glow through the haze of the misty rain.

After a few moments, she finally reached her destination. In front of her was a beautiful marble carved headstone and on the edges were carved ivy vines with beautiful inscriptions of Forget Me Not's. The woman knelt on the ground with a bit of difficulty, not caring that the grass was wet and moist from the rain.

She carefully laid the flowers next to the headstone, then leaned back to check her surroundings while trying to hold back the tears that always gathered up when she visited this particular grave. No matter how long it has been, she always got emotional on this day of the year. She looked back at the grave and exhaled slowly to control the raging emotions inside her.

"Another year has gone by." she said softly.

And I'm still finding it difficult to hold on.

"I will never forget the words that you told me, when I was just sixteen years old, heading out to Arizona, leaving a world I tried so hard to get away from. Words that confused me and didn't at the time make any sense, but those words stuck with me for a really long time. I didn't understand them then, but now...now I do." She smiled.

She took another deep breath as she stared at the photographs that were laid around the headstone. One of them caught her eye and she stared at it. It was two very young girls, each with an arm around each other, barely fourteen years old as they smiled in complete happiness. A flood of memories came floating back to her of so many years ago. A time when she met two very different boys that were best friends. Two boys that completely turned her world upside down.