It has been a day since he left me. I think I would have understood it better if I knew why he did it, why he took his life.
I just can't think of any reason that would be enough for him to resort to that act. He could have told me what the problem was. I assured him I will always be beside him, through thick and thin. I was his wife. Although we were only nineteen and married for a month, we have known each other for more than half of our lives.
"Hi!" A young boy jumped in front of my bike and it was a good thing that I had training wheels.
My scrunched face broke into a wide smile that led to a belly laugh. The kid was missing a front tooth! I guess it did not offend him since he joined me afterwards.
"What's your name?" The young boy asked. He borrowed my bike and he is now sitting on it and stepping on the pedals.
I was sitting on the gutter on the other hand with my elbows on my knees and my cheeks on my hands.
"Stro-phe," I struggled with the letter r and the f sound thus the slowness. He must have been a bit confused because he only looked at me.
"Sophie?" He asked. I was right. He got confused. It always happens in school too.
"Strophe," I struggled once again to make my voice clearer. I always thought my name was really pretty and unique although it's hard to spell and pronounce. My parents told me that my name sounded like no other that's why they chose it.
"Aah," he said, nodding. "I'm Ian."
He's lucky that he has an easy-to-pronounce name. I actually didn't notice that he didn't repeat my name. Maybe he didn't really catch it.
"How old are you?" He asked next as he kept pushing the colorful buttons on the front of my bike. I wonder if he has a bike too.
I lifted six of my little fingers then remembered that it was my birthday a few days ago so I added another and said, "Seven, you?"
"Seven too." He never took his eyes away from my bike. Maybe he doesn't have one. I wouldn't know yet since we just moved here yesterday.
Of course we became friends right away, especially when he mentioned Galaxy Heroes, my favorite show which happened to be his favorite too. We talked about our favorite cartoon characters in the show as I was back on my bike, riding it slow cause he walked along.
We didn't realize that we roamed the whole neighborhood already and were back in front of our houses. I saw his mom outside their door, waiting for him with hands on her waist. I got a bit scared when I noticed his mom's eyes.
"Tsk tsk tsk." His mom shook her head as she crossed her arms in front. "Where were you, mister?" She asked as we entered their fence.
Ian did not seem to be nervous or scared at all and I was awkwardly walking beside him, looking at his mom through my lashes. When we were near their front porch, he hopped to his mom and hugged her waist for a second.
"Momma, look! She's the new neighbor! Her name's S-So..." Ian looked back at me, definitely asking for help. I looked at him then turned to his mom who was now shockingly smiling widely and warmly at me.
"Hi, Ian's mom! My name's Strophe and I'm si─seven years old!" I happily introduced myself. His mom actually has a pretty face and I concluded that she's not scary at all.
We would hang out every day since then. Our parents became friends too and we would have dinners with them from time to time. I then thought that having a second family is cool and fun.
