Our Tears - A Short Story

Our Tears
Claudine Claudio




She cried again.

I slapped her mentally and shouted, “Don’t you dare cry! Don’t you dare!”

But the tears poured out like the silent flow of a calm river. The more I forbid her to let out her tears the more stubborn she became. She was crying silently. Her ponytail went loose which brought messy strands of hair sticking wet on her face. She tried to wipe her eyes with the left sleeve of her shirt but as soon as it dried, another silent tear gushed out. Then another one. And another one.

“Oh I’m so sorry!” She cried harder, her face now buried on her palms.

“Stop it.” I said reprimandingly.

“I can’t…”

“Stop it!” I yelled angrily. “Why won’t you stop? Stop it at once or someone will see you!”

At my word, she left her chore and ran hurriedly upstairs to her room. She heard her mother cried out her name but she ignored her. There in her room she sat down on her bed and looked at me through the rectangular mirror of her 10-year old wooden cabinet. After wiping her eyes thoroughly, she stared at me intently for a moment. I waited for her to speak. But she just kept staring at me with that tired expression on her face as if I’m as boring as the color gray. Then at last she let out a big sigh.

“You know what? You suck.”

I was stunned. I didn’t believe I heard her right. “I what?”

“I said you suck. Why won’t you let me cry? Who are you anyway? Why do you keep tailing me? You have no right to tell me when and when not to cry! There’s nothing wrong with crying! I am hurt and I am in pain and all you can say is don’t I dare cry? You’re supposed to be my best friend! And you think by forbidding my tears you’re giving me comfort? No, you’re just pushing me deeper into misery! Why are you doing this? I wish you would just go away!”
My initial reaction faded. I settled my gaze at her red puffy eyes and spoke in a delicate tone.

“You remember those days when you keep disobeying mother and father’s orders? I kept telling you to stop because I don’t want to get hit. I wanted badly to obey them. I wanted to be a good girl. But still you did bad things. Still, you fought with your brother and flunked your exams. So when mother and father had to punish you for your wrongdoings, I had to share your misery too. I was in worse pain than you because I committed none of your mistakes. But I had to suffer because you were so insensitive of me. I couldn’t stop crying because you won’t let me. I was so weak then I could not take over you. So I promised myself not ever to cry in front of anybody. I must cry alone so no one could witness my pain. But I realized I could not do that. You’re in control of this body and crying alone does not matter because no one could see me anyway. How else is my pain? So as years went on, I had to learn to control you. Your tears are mine as well as your pain. I thought you’ve figured that out after all these years. It makes me so sad that you have not.”

“What? What was I supposed to figure out all this years?” She implored curiously.

“That I will do the crying for you... So you’ll be able to stand the pain.”

She sat there in a daze not knowing what to say. As I have already expected, she gave out a sob again. And there in her room she continued her crying.


This time, I was crying with her...


/ingenue07