Journey of a Sorrow
by Andrea Ruggirello
Two sorrows met up along their travels. They paused briefly to rest together and began to talk. They quickly realized that they were headed in the same direction and decided to travel together.
As they continued on their journey, the stronger of the two could not help but notice the weariness in his brother and offered him a ride upon his back. The weak one accepted gratefully and climbed upon the other. They continued on in mostly silence until the weak one finally spoke.
“Where are you from?” he asked.
“From death,” the strong one replied. “Death of a mother. From where do you come?”
“I am from heartbreak. A beloved loved another.”
“Young love?”
“Yes. She’ll forget and I’ll arrive within a month or two.” The weak one paused, thinking hard. “Tell me about yours. Were they close?”
“Best of friends. A bond found only once in a hundred years. And they only had eighteen together.” He sighed. “I perhaps will arrive only with his death.”
The weak one climbed down, and they both stood facing each other, paused only a fraction of the way to their destinations.
“How are you able to hold even yourself up,” the weak one asked, bewildered, “Let alone the weight of the both of us? You are from the deepest darkest place we are born.”
The strong one smiled serenely. “Precisely. My legs and my back are the strongest of our kind. How else will I be able to travel for a lifetime? Especially as I grow smaller. Climb back on, my friend. They need for us to keep moving.”
The weak one did so hesitantly. “You sound mighty certain of yourself that you’ll make it.”
“I am.” There was only the slightest waver in the strong one’s voice. He looked over his shoulder at his companion. “Without certainty, we’d already have given up.” He began walking once more.
Andrea graduated from Oswego State University in May 2008 with a degree in Creative Writing. There, she received several awards for her writing and was published in the campus literary magazine. The genres she writes in include fiction, flash fiction, plays, and screenplays. She currently works for City Year in Boston and uses what little free time she has to work on her novel and write short stories. Contact Andrea.
