Tales From The Mind of Thomas

As the sun set in the west, cascading rays of yellows and oranges, pinks and purples intertwined with each other, the last light of day dimmed, making way for the embrace of night’s darkness. In this moment of serene transition, Matt asked his longtime friend, Ryan, a question that seemed as vast as the twilight sky. “Who did you love the most?”

Ryan paused, not for pondering—he already knew the answer—but because he was lost in thought about her. “Eleanor,” he said softly, his voice carrying the weight of unspoken stories. “She was the one I was most happy with. She was the one I saw my future with.”

“What happened?” Matt prodded gently, aware of the layers of emotions that this conversation could unravel.

Again, Ryan paused, the emotions he had felt that day returning to him. There was no anger, only the same sorrow, the same sense of loss he felt those years ago. He struggled to articulate his feelings, even though he knew why things had ended the way they did. “Poor timing,” he finally said, the words barely scratching the surface of the truth.

Matt nodded, taking another sip from his beer. He was satisfied with the answer, not because he believed it to be the whole truth, but because he knew that prying further would cause too much pain. Matt understood the depth of Ryan’s love for Eleanor—that she was with another when Ryan finally expressed his feelings, and it simply wasn’t the right time.

Ryan always wondered how things would be if he had kept his feelings to himself. If she never knew, would they still be in each other’s lives? Would she be his better half if he had chosen a better time? The sorrow was evident on Ryan’s face, a testament to the heartache of what could have been.

Seeing his friend’s pain, Matt placed a comforting hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “It’ll be alright, man. One day you’ll find the courage to get out there and find someone.”

In this moment, against the backdrop of a fading sky, two friends navigated the complexities of love, loss, and the unspoken truths that bond them. The setting sun mirrored the closing of one chapter and the hopeful wait for another, capturing the poignant journey of moving forward, even when the heart yearns to look back.