Drabble – Comfort II
She was passing through the gardens one rainy morning when she saw him. Alexander was sitting on a bench under an archway. His shoulders were slumped and his head was down. She paused where she stood trying to decide if she should interrupt him.
Her mind made up, she picked a beautiful blue iris and held it out as she approached him. He had looked up when he had heard her coming and looked at the blue petals.
He had been crying softly, she could still see the fresh tears rolling down his shallow checks.
He motioned for her to sit down and they began to talk, about general things to begin with. But the conversation soon turned to what they both were thinking …Hephaestion. He had been gone only a month but it seemed like forever to Alexander.
She shared stories with him about Hephaestion and he began to open up to her too. And for a few minutes the weight went away and the sorrow lifted.
As they talked he played with the flower petals.
They met often over the next few months until the next summer, till he left to rejoin the keeper of his heart.