Jade arched her eyebrows over his responding note. It seemed he had missed the point of her note in its entirety. She hadn't been telling him to cry, she had been telling him it was okay to cry. That so far as she knew, that was a necessary part of the grieving process.
Yet she thought that maybe it was a good thing that he was paying close enough attention to what she wrote to contradict her. She might have a real chance here to help him.
The verses that she needed came to mind instantly, along with her own words. She wrote her reply and stuck it through one of the slats in his locker during lunch.
He couldn't refute these verses.
"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; Ecclesiastes 3:1-4."
Dylan stared at those verses for a long time before he got around to reading Jade's own words - there was a lot of them - written underneath.
"You misinterpreted my meaning. You don't have to cry, but it is okay to. There is a time to cry, a time to grieve, and I believe that for you that time is now.
If people do cry over the loss of a friend or family member, why do they cry? Because they have no hope of seeing their family member/friend again. Because of their hopelessness. Because they forget that they are going to see that person again.
Jesus wept because of their hopelessness, you say. I say that grieving people cry for the same reason. Hopelessness.
But don't forget, Dylan, life isn't hopeless. We have hope of the afterlife. You'll see Emily again.
But for right now, we live here, on earth. And that means that we have to keep on living without her. You're going to be okay, I really believe that, and I think that somewhere inside yourself you do too. You'll smile again one day. Then someone will tell a joke and you'll hear laughter. Suddenly you'll realize that the laughter is yours. You're going to be all right.
If you ever want to actually talk to me, I'd be more than willing to listen and try to help wherever and whenever I can. I really mean that.
Sincerely,
Jade"
As she had after every note, Jade had drawn a small sketch. For this note, it was more of a letter really, she had chosen two hands with interlocking pointer fingers. It was the sign for "friends" in sign language.
He contemplated her offer to talk face to face, but really what did he have to say? So he wrote her back and put the note in her locker just after school let out.
"Dear Jade, again, you're right. I'm sorry I was so - you know, whatever you want to call it, in my last note. I'm not the only one trying to take steps to heal. My dad has met with Pastor Rodgers today, at least he said he would. A good way to get time to talk to me, at least for me, would be when I'm running in the neighborhood around where we live. I come by your house while I'm out running, so I know where you live. Bye for now, I guess. Dylan."
Nathan Hayes looked absent-mindedly around the shoe store that he had just entered with his fifteen year old daughter, Jade. She had been bugging him to take her to the mall for the past month and a half, sighting that she "needed" running shoes and that he was the best choice to help her find a good pair.
"Jade, sweetie, why the sudden interest in running?" he asked as he followed her down the aisle.
"I have been told that it is the best way to spend time with some new friends of mine." she replied, stopping to examine a pink pair of shoes. "What do you think of these?"
"That depends on how often or for how long at a time you intend to run. You may need thicker soles." He paused. "Hey, hold on a second. Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"I thought I heard-"
"Corporal Mitchell!"
"Yeah."
"No, Daddy. Corporal Mitchell is over there."
"Hey, Adam!" Nathan waved Adam over.
He came smiling. "Hey, Nathan. Why hello, Jade. What are you two looking for today?"
"Jade wants running shoes." Nathan answered easily.
"Hey, Dad, I found the shoes I want." Dylan rounded the corner of the aisle, holding a pair of blue and white shoes.
Because he was looking at them instead of where he was going, he ran into some girl. No, not some girl.
"Sorry. Oh, Jade!"
"Dylan!"
"You two know each other?" Adam asked.
"Something like that." Dylan answered. "We talk a lot at school."
It was something of a half truth. They hadn't spoken two words since the funeral, but they had written and left notes daily, using their lockers when at school, the chair back when at church, and even texting on Saturdays. Yet he barely knew what her voice sounded like, and that was probably his fault. She had extended the invitation to talk, so didn't that mean that he was the one who had to take her up on it?
It was like a fun little game of theirs, really, for them and them alone, writing instead of talking. And when they wrote as often as they did, it was just as good as talking. They'd learned a lot about each other over the past six weeks.
Her favorite color was yellow. She liked English better than Math. She loved the works of the poet Emily Dickinson, and she'd rather have the flu than let anyone know that she had such a bookworm-ish inclination. She had written that he would suffer unspeakable consequences if he revealed that fact. And he completely believed her.
As a self-proclaimed loner, Dylan had very few friends. After Emily's death, those few friends had all fallen away, uncertain of how to talk to him. But he had come to consider Jade as a friend, his closest one at that. Was that strange? He thought probably so, but he really didn't care. It was what it was.
"Jade here is getting running shoes." his dad informed him merrily.
Dylan's eyebrows went up a miniscule amount and she turned towards his pen pal of sorts. "Really?"
He was surprised to see her blush a little. "Yeah. " She wrinkled her nose a little. "Some friends told me it was the best way to spend time with them."
"You know, I had the same thought about Dylan here." Adam said, slinging an arm around his son's shoulders.
"Really?" Jade said, trying to be conversational, Dylan guessed.
"Yup. If Dylan has what he came for, we're ready to go. Have you found what you wanted?"
"Not yet." Jade admitted. "I don't really know what I'm looking for."
"Do you want some help?" Dylan asked.
"Sure. That would be great." She looked at their fathers. "If that's okay."
"Yeah, sure." Both men waved them away.
Dylan stepped back and scanned the selection that the store offered. He didn't look toward her as he asked, "So who are you planning on running with?"
"Who do you think?" she asked cryptically.
"I don't know who runs in your social circles." he objected to the question.
"You. You asked me to run with you." she replied in exasperation.
He turned to her. "And your dad is really okay with you doing this?"
She glanced away from him, towards her shoes. "I'm sure that he would be."
Dylan smirked. "He doesn't know that it's me you're going to be running with."
It was a statement, not at all a question. He was a master at hiding things from parents, especially fathers, his anyway. And in that, he had, somewhere along the way, mastered the art of recognizing when others were hiding things from their parents.
The idea that she felt the need to hide their friendship, if you could even call it that, was a little unsettling though.
He angled away from their talking fathers, lowered his voice, and told Jade all of the thoughts that had just ran through his head.
"It's not really a big deal." jade hurried to assure him. "Daddy's just overprotective of me. Like with my boyfriend, Derek.
Dylan's eyebrows rose. "You have a boyfriend?"
Jade sighed. "It's complicated."
"Mom says that all of the best things in life are." he remarked.
"Anyway," Jade took a deep breath, obviously putting the conversation aside. "Running shoes."
"The kind I have here are the best in the store." he held up the pair that he had chosen for himself.
"Aren't those men's?"
"They're in the juniors', in the other aisle over. I'll show you."
She chose a pair of yellow and purple shoes of the same style as his and they reported back to their fathers, who were standing right where they had been left, talking about a gang in the area.
"Are you ready?" Nathan asked Jade.
"Yes, sir."
"What'd you find?"
Jade displayed her find and all four of them went up to the cash register to pay.
"I'll see you soon, Dylan." Jade promised as they exited the store.
"I'll be looking forward to it." He smiled at her.
As he did, he recalled the words of her note. Both Nathan and Adam froze as they looked at him. The teenagers pretended not to notice though, and kept right on going in opposite directions. He was looking forward to this, whatever "this" was.
Okay, so this is a reposted version of my original story with the same title, just in case you read that. Please review this! I really need the motivation right now! Thank you in advance!:)