Lunar Light

It was a nice scene when she looked back on it again a few days later. It was nearing the end of December, just after Christmas. And she had made her annual trip down to the reservoir to celebrate the anniversary of his death. There was a dusting of snow over everything on the thin stretch of shore where she sat. The gravel-like stones were cold beneath her, but she didn’t care. She sat cross-legged just out of the reach of the small waves lapping against the shore. It wasn’t cold enough for the water to freeze over yet so it was just a cold, crystal clear color. Snow started to lightly flurry down and she wrapped her coat tighter around her shoulders.
She stared off at the water as the current took away the small candle that she had set afloat just like she did this time every year. She curled her toes inside her shoes as she wiped the tears off her cheeks with a gloved hand. She exhaled to calm herself and saw a little white cloud of her breath. She was freezing, but she knew that she wouldn’t leave until the little orb of light that was the candle had disappeared.
She heard a snapping sound in the thin stretch of woods behind her and she turned around nervously; she wasn’t supposed to be at the shore to begin with so if the cops or something caught her she was screwed. She held her breath as she saw a shadow emerge onto the shore a few meters down. All it was was a silhouette for the longest time. It was kicking rocks along the shoreline as it made its way down to where she was sitting.
Once the figure got close enough, her jaw dropped in surprise. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The man gave her a warm smile as he sat down next to her and took the backpack off his shoulders. He said hello and the girl couldn’t quite find the breath to respond. “He-hello,” she stammered out. The man took a blanket out of his backpack and wrapped it around the two of them, “Aren’t you cold?” The girl shook her head.
He looked at her for a moment, “Are you okay?” The girl nodded, “Yea, yea I’m fine. It’s just, no one’s ever come down here while I was here before.” He nodded understandingly, “Well, every year I drive past here and I see a candle floating down the stretch. So this year I decided I’d try to find the person behind it. I’m assuming that it’s you?” She nodded but said nothing. He looked down at his hands, “Do you know who I am?” The girl nodded again, “Yea, you’re Zach from Avenged.” He nodded, “That’s me. Who are you?”
A snowflake landed on her eyelashes and she brushed it away, “My name’s Lisa.” Zacky pulled his hood up over his hat, “You know what today is?” She solemnly and silently nodded. He put his arm around her shoulders and they sat there for a while watching the candle as it floated farther and farther off. The moon shed just enough light to illuminate the water so they could still see the speck of light as it drifted off to a destination unknown. The stars twinkled down and the snow still gently flew through the air. For a while they both forgot how cold it was.
He looked down at her as she leaned her head against his shoulder, “So you really come down here every year and do this?” She nodded and wiped the tears off her face, “Yea, pretty much. As soon as I got my own car I started this whole thing. It’s the least I could do.” Zacky shivered a little from the cold, “You just come here and watch it drift away?” She shrugged, “More or less. I talk to him too. About everything that goes on,” she paused for a moment, “Why aren’t you with the guys? If you don’t mind me asking.” He gave her a good-natured smile, “We spent the whole day together today. It’s like, almost two in the morning now, you know that right?” She shrugged, “I do now.”
The air started to get colder as the minutes passed. Zacky breathed onto his hands in an attempt to un-numb them. They sat there in a comfortable silence. She had dreamt about meeting him so many times, and there was so much that she had panned on saying and asking, but in the moment, she knew that words would ruin the whole thing. She reached up and pointed to a shooting star as it flew, twinkled, and then went out.
She slowly stood up and faced the water in front of them. She turned back to Zacky, “Walk to the island with me?” He gave her a questioning look and she pointed farther down the stretch of shore where there was a thin strip of land exposed that led to an island out in the middle of the reservoir. He put the blanket back in his backpack and walked with her. They got to the island and started walking on the semi-worn trail around the perimeter of it. Overhanging branches blocked most of the snow as Lisa watched Zacky as he kicked pebbles along the shoreline. “Tell me about him,” she said softly.
He looked up at her, as if he had been snapped out of a daze, “Huh?” She gave a shy smile, “Jimmy, tell me about him.” Zacky gave a tired but warm smile, “There’s so much to say, where do you want me to start?” She smiled at his as she sat down on a boulder on the shore, “At the beginning.” He sat down next to her and hung his feet off the edge of the rock over the water as he started to tell stories about Jimmy. After a while, he stood up and kept walking around the island as he spoke. Lisa lost count of how many times they’d walked around the perimeter of it.
There was so much for him to say about Jimmy, and there wasn’t enough time in the world to say it in. They were walking back along the little strip of land that led back to the main shore. When they got there, Zacky squinted out into the distance looking for the candle. Lisa walked up beside him, “It’s gone.” He sighed and a puff of white air formed, “Yea, I know…”
They walked in silence back through the trail in the woods that led to the small parking spot where fishers parked their cars in the summer. Lisa gave him a hug and said a very quiet but heartfelt goodbye and headed over to her car. Zacky called after her before getting into his own car, “Hey, Lisa!” She turned around just before sliding into her seat, “Yea?” He gave a small smile, “Same time next year?”
She smiled as tears sprung to her eyes, “I’ll be here.”