Philia

"No"

"What??"

"No"

He stared at me in disbelief.

"I didn't ask for this," I said

"I don't care if you asked for this, it's upon you and you can't ignore it,"

"Yes I can"

"I am not going to sit here and watch you do this!"

I looked up at him.
He paused.
He began to turn.

"Wait!" I cried

"What?"

"How am I supposed to do this?"

"I can't tell you that! Only you can tell yourself. I didn't come this far to see you whine and give up near the end! Get on your feet!"

"It's too confusing! I don't know what to do, I don't know how to... I... I don't know..."

"I know, neither do I, but you can't just stand here,"

"Why not?"

"Because there's a world out there that does what it wants, and you can only make an impact if you do something. If you just stay here and die all of this will be for nothing. This world doesn't care right now, but you can give it the opportunity to care. I have not come this far to see you quit now!"

I looked up and saw the his face resolving into an emotion I couldn't deny. It wasn't going to change anything but me, yet in the grand scheme of things it mattered. I understood, and I knew in that moment I was not alone. I had love, so what? I had the absolute trust I needed to continue, and at that point it didn't matter.

"Yes"
I nodded.
He looked at me and I knew I was going to make it.

We began to run.


Together.