I sat beside him in silence, the rhythmic sound of the waves providing a backdrop to our thoughts. The air was heavy with unspoken emotions, and I wondered how to bridge the gap that seemed to widen between us.
After a while, he spoke, his voice barely audible over the ocean's whispers. "It's not your fault, you know? You couldn't have known."
I nodded, unsure of what to say. We sat there, sharing the weight of unexpressed pain and unsolved mysteries. The clouds above us grew darker, mirroring the somber atmosphere.
As the first raindrops began to fall, he finally turned to look at me. His eyes, once distant, now held a glimmer of something familiar. "I don't want you to fix me. I just need you to be there."
And so, we stayed by the shore, two souls weathering the storm both within and
