A Pain That Unites

A Pain That Unites

She was sitting on the sand on the beach and drawing pictures in the sand with a stick, she was observing the seagulls that flew over the sea and was thinking about her life without him… He was lying in a hammock and smoking a cigar, he was listened the sound of the waves breaking on the shore.

He lost his sweetheart 10 years ago; she died in the explosion in New York on September 11 in 2001.

That day was the most terrible and tragic day in his life. A severe earthquake struck the area where they lived. They were miraculously alive because at the time of the earthquake they were on the road from the parent’s home to the area in which they lived. They were horrified when they saw how their house lies in the ruins as breaking cartons.

Arriving at their house they found a pile of concrete and bricks and they saw the screaming people and crying children: somebody of them tried to crawl from the wreckage of the destroyed house, someone shouted and called for help, someone tried to find his children and cried with a wild roar, someone was lying dead…

She fainted from this terrible picture and she was taken to the hospital. Her illness was diagnosed as a state of shock and the doctors have claimed that she needs treatment and rest.

She stayed in the hospital for a month but she had a long recovery period after that tragedy: as soon as the effects of sedative drugs were losing their strength, she began to cry and be afraid: that picture, which she saw at that day, flashed out almost instantly.

Every day he tried to distract her by telling funny stories or plans for the future but nothing soothed her and she asked him to move to the USA where her relatives lived as immigrants.

He did not want to move because he stood firmly on his own feet in his native country. He was a manager of a charitable organization that was engaged in the rehabilitation of disabled children and provided moral and financial assistance in solving their social problems.

A month ago the government awarded the medal to his organization. But he made a decision to move only for one reason – for a woman whom he loved because she has suffered from depression after an earthquake. Friends heard about this news and they were greatly disappointed because this couple was very close to them in all respects. This couple was the standard for imitation. The day of departure arrived …

She begged him to go to that street where there was their home and destroyed after an earthquake. She put a bunch of carnations and sat in silence for several minutes. And suddenly at that moment she looked at him with a strange look and said: “my inner voice tells me “do not go there, you can die”. But he began to assuage her and turned the conversation to another topic. She kept silent on the way to the airport and thought about that conversation with the inner voice. A month passed …

Her two brothers had found a job for them (programmer and office manager) in the World Trade Center in New York. They always were going to work and come back home together. She felt better herself and calmed down but sometimes she recalled that conversation with an inner voice.

One month later he left for training to England but she stayed and continued to work. September 11, 2001 … he heard the news about this tragedy and he called her but she did not answer. He felt like his legs give way because he remembered that conversation in the day when they go to lay flowers at the site of their collapsed house.

He did not want to stay in England and decided to fly home. He back to USA and went to the World Trade Center from the airport. But the offices in which they worked with his beloved were destroyed. There were piles of concrete slabs and bricks (as in the day of the earthquake) but 1000 times as much…. He did not know what to do, where to go, whom to contact because there was a chaos in New York. Her relatives came to this place and they were in a state of shock and could not say anything.

That picture, which was associated with the earthquake, flashed out almost instantly: her frightened and sad glance after her conversation with her inner voice. He could not control himself and began to scream and cry from the pain in his heart… Someone tried to reassure him, but someone said: “let him sob out his grief”. He hated himself for being unable to save her, he blamed himself for not listening that day to her inner voice and was unable to convince do not go to the USA, he hated himself for that he couldn`t close her when it happened.

All these years he lived with memories of her: her love of life, ability to love relatives and friends, the pleasure of life and faith in the future… His relatives tried to introduce him to another woman but he could not imagine himself with anyone else. …. Suddenly paper airplane fell beside him and that airplane was painted. He became interested and took that airplane and read: “… I have long been observing you and I think you lost loved one in your life too…. maybe our grief will bring together us…”

He looked around and saw a woman who was sitting on the beach and drawing figures on the sand. He has approached her and looked with interest at a picture that she drew in the sand. There was collapsing in the airplane and man who wearer uniform of a pilot and stayed on the ground… Her beloved man was a pilot and died in a plane crash…. …They talked a long time in a small cafe on the beach at night-light lanterns and each of them tried to listen to a spiritual conversation and feel the grief which felt each of them.

…and this pain united them…