• It's Okay to Cry
    By
    Simon R. Sterrett

    tab Klackita klackita klackita klackita. Wooooooh
    tab I sat on a cushioned bench, watching the countryside slide by in a tangle of fields and woods, villages and huts. A younger boy sat next to me, sniffling and sometimes calling for his mother. Earlier he had been crying in earnest, but the girl across from him eventually quieted the noise.
    tab Other children in the car were also crying, including some of the older ones. The girl who sat across from the toddler next to me was stony faced, yet even she let tears make shining trails down her face. I didn't cry though, because I am... Was, the bravest of my siblings.
    tab After a while of the same old scenery we neared a tunnel in the side of a mountain, it's darkness gaping. The other boy in front of me was considerably older, and his presence comforting, but his snores didn't help as Pa's might have. I looked out the window again, and the tunnel got bigger. The closer it got, the less like a tunnel it looked, and the more like a cave. My stomach quivered. Where had the mountain come from? We hadn't seen any earlier, and this was too big to miss. I watched as we quickly crept towards the tunnel, it's maw ringed with upside down stone spires. My heart clenched, and I tried to look away, but I was frozen in horror.
    tab It reminded me of the burned cinders of my friends village, where nothing had been left except a small doll. My parents had soon after rushed me to this train, but my mother and my brothers and one sister had stayed behind to meet Pa and me in the next few days. They had been captured by the bad men, and our house had been burned as well. Pa had gone back to salvage what he could, and left me here.
    tab A lump rose in my throat, and the mouth rushed closer. My eyes grew hot, and I blinked hard. I was not going to cry. Closer and closer it loomed, until it seemed to be right over my head.
    tab Woooooooooooooooh. Wooooooh woooooooooooooh.
    tab The whistle blew, making me jump, and the darkness closed over my head. I drew in a shuddering breath, and something trickled down my face. Reaching up, I felt a wet splotch, and let out a sob. Tears streamed down my face, and I sniffled piteously. The light blinked back, and the teenager in front of me started awake. He glanced at me, the toddler and the girl, his expression turning to a frown. “What's wrong?” He cooed in a pleasantly rough voice, “Why cry? Tell me what's wrong,” He said, gathering us closer.
    tab “My parents are gone,” I cried, wiping away my tears.
    tab He glanced at the girl, who nodded in agreement. “Oooooohhhh,” He cooed again, “Well you must realize it is okay to cry. You can still be brave and shed a tear, and it does not make you any less than one person or another. If anything, you are more than those who don't, or can't, for it shows you have a heart. Now be brave, and know that, even in tough times, things will always get better someday,” he said, and ruffled my hair. And in that moment, with the rumble of the train below me, I knew he was right.

    The End