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Jake sat hunched over at his desk, his fingers tapping mindlessly on the keyboard, but his mind was elsewhere. The blue light from his laptop reflected in his tired eyes, casting his face in an eerie glow. The day had been long, filled with endless assignments, but he was nearly done. The clock on the wall ticked loudly in the silence, as if it were competing with the hum of his thoughts. All he needed was to finish the last few lines.
As he stared at the screen, his phone rang sharply, cutting through the stillness of his apartment. He glanced at the caller ID—his aunt. A strange call, especially at this hour.
"Hello?" he answered, his voice low, as if already bracing for bad news.
"Jake… I don't know how to say this, but… Grandma passed away earlier tonight. She went peacefully, but… I'm so sorry."
The words slammed into him like a physical blow, his chest tightening as he struggled to comprehend what she'd just said. For a moment, the world stood still. He didn't move, didn't blink. He felt detached from his body, as if the grief hadn't fully registered yet. But as the seconds passed, the numbness gave way to something darker—something raw and unbearable.
"Grandma's gone?" he whispered to himself, the words tasting foreign in his mouth.
Suddenly, everything around him felt small, stifling. His chest ached with the weight of his grief, and the air in the room felt thick, suffocating. His hands clenched into fists as he stood abruptly, the chair scraping loudly against the floor behind him. His breathing grew heavier, his emotions swirling in a chaotic mess. He wanted to scream, to throw something, to shatter everything in sight. The urge to destroy, to match the brokenness he felt inside, was almost overpowering.
But instead of smashing the furniture, he stormed out of his apartment, letting the door slam behind him. His body moved on autopilot, his mind blank except for the burning anger and sadness coursing through him. He walked without direction, his feet pounding against the pavement. It was late, the streets were deserted, and the night air was cold, biting at his skin.
He walked, and walked, and walked.
An hour passed. Maybe more. The buildings around him blurred together as his thoughts tumbled over each other. Eventually, Jake found himself on a quiet road that led into a more wooded area, the cityscape fading behind him. He had wandered far from his apartment, farther than he intended. But then, he realized where he was—the lake. A place from his childhood. A place where he used to find peace.
The lake was still, the water reflecting the faint light of the moon like glass. He stared at it for a long moment before walking closer to the shore. His footsteps crunched on the gravel, and he bent down to pick up a rock, his fingers curling around its cool, rough surface. Without thinking, he hurled it into the lake. The splash echoed in the night air, breaking the serene surface of the water. It felt good, the sound matching the turmoil inside him.
He grabbed another rock. Then another. He threw them harder, faster, watching the ripples in the water multiply. His anger flowed into every throw, each rock a representation of the grief, the loss, the overwhelming pain he couldn't process.
"I'm so angry…" he muttered through clenched teeth. "Why did she have to die? Why now?"
Another rock, another splash. He felt his hands starting to ache from the force of his throws, but the pain didn't matter. Nothing seemed to matter anymore.
Suddenly, a voice pierced through the quiet, pulling him out of his trance.
"Jake?"
He froze, the rock in his hand slipping to the ground. He turned around to see Lanty standing there, just a few feet behind him. She looked different in the dim light of the early morning, a cigarette dangling between her fingers, its orange tip glowing faintly.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, her voice soft, curious, but concerned.
Jake blinked, still trying to process her sudden appearance. "I… I needed to get out. My grandmother…" His voice cracked, and he turned his head back toward the lake, trying to hold back the flood of emotions threatening to break through.
Lanty stepped closer, exhaling a thin trail of smoke. "I come here sometimes when I smoke. Walking helps me fight the cravings." She glanced at the cigarette in her hand and then at Jake, her face partly illuminated by the glow. "It keeps me from doing… more of this."
Jake nodded, barely registering her words. His mind was still stuck on the grief that weighed heavily on his heart. "My grandma died tonight," he said finally, his voice rough. "She was… all I had left."
Lanty's expression softened. She took another drag from her cigarette and nodded slowly. "I'm really sorry, Jake."
He stared at the water, feeling his throat tighten. The memories of his grandmother, of everything she had done for him, began flooding back. "She raised me after my parents died," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I was born early. They had to keep me in the hospital, in one of those incubators. It was supposed to be a happy time for them—my parents were getting married. But on the day of the wedding, on the drive back to the hospital… a drunk driver hit their car. Killed them both."
Lanty remained silent, her gaze fixed on Jake as he continued, the weight of his words heavy in the air.
"My grandfather, from my mother's side, he couldn't handle it. He died not long after. And my other grandparents… they didn't want me. Thought I wasn't their problem." He swallowed hard, feeling the lump in his throat grow. "So, it was just me and my grandma. She was all I had. And now…" His voice broke, and he threw another rock into the lake, watching the ripples spread out. "Now she's gone, too."
Lanty didn't say anything for a long moment. Then, she quietly walked up beside him, bent down, and picked up a rock of her own. Without a word, she threw it into the lake. The splash was smaller than Jake's, but it felt like a shared release. She picked up another rock, and so did Jake.
Together, they stood by the shore, throwing rocks and sticks into the water, neither of them speaking. The only sounds were the occasional splashes and the soft rustle of the wind through the trees. It was as if they both understood that words weren't needed right now.
As the minutes passed, Jake began to calm. His breathing slowed, his hands stopped shaking. The grief was still there, the pain too, but the anger had burned out, leaving behind only exhaustion.
When he glanced at Lanty again, he noticed something he hadn't before—the faint bruises around her wrist, and another along the side of her face, just beneath her cheekbone. The dim light didn't hide them as well as she might have hoped. For a split second, Jake's mind registered the marks, but he didn't think much of them. He was too emotionally drained to ask.
Instead, he threw one last rock into the lake, watching as it disappeared beneath the surface, the ripples slowly fading into stillness.
"I loved her," he said softly, his voice thick with emotion. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do now."
Lanty threw her final rock as well, her hand brushing against her face as if to shield the bruises from view. "You'll figure it out," she said quietly, her tone gentle, almost vulnerable. "You're stronger than you think."
For a moment, Jake looked at her, really looked at her. He saw the fatigue in her eyes, the weight she carried silently. But just like him, she didn't speak of it. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
They stood there, side by side, staring out over the lake as the early morning sun began to rise. It painted the sky in soft hues of pink and orange, the light reflecting off the water in a peaceful glow.
And for the first time in hours, Jake felt like he wasn't completely alone.
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Sometimes love is all we need