He had never understood the notion of a 'sad smile' quite so intimately until then.
He'd seen them, painted over other people's faces, was even sure they had graced his own at some point – but still, he'd never understood why the gentle tug of lips should coincide so readily with such relentless grief.
It was an oxymoron worthy of the man himself, in a way - just a quirk of emotional turmoil. The surprise of expectant tears dying, only to be replaced with that smallest of smiles that declares 'This is how it is, and we can't change that'.
The chill of the rock penetrated his shirt and made him uncomfortably aware of the places that his poker straight back made contact with stone. Stone, and earth, and endless sky. The pine needles carelessly strewn across the ground scratched incessantly at his exposed skin as he moved, prompting him into statuesque stillness. It anchored him in reality. And at the same time made him feel more distant than ever.
But still he smiled. Sadly.
Because out here, in the pitch black, freezing silence he was kept company by a hundred, thousand, million stars so many hundreds and thousands and millions of miles away.
Untouchable. Unfathomable.
And yet there they were – seemingly close enough that he could reach out a hand and …
But no. Logic told him 'No'.
He was here, tied to the earth by that most fragile of things – life.
And they were there – so, so far far away. The cosmos. All those things he didn't understand, and would never, ever, be close to.
And that's why, as he rose from the parched grass and laid one hand fleetingly on the headstone, he smiled. Sadly.
I haven't written a single line in months - lack of inspiration and mounting uni work is pretty good at putting a HUGE writing block in your path, but hey-ho! The flow of this feels wrong to me, a bit choppy, but I'm going to put it down to months of not writing. If you spot any mistakes in spelling or grammar etc please do point them out. Reviews of all kinds are very much loved, especially the constructive criticism!
Cheers for reading, and have a fabulous day!