grace

They sit closer than a foot from each other, but stand more than worlds apart. One's eyes stricken towards the ground while the other stares back at him, looking for something to grasp, a piece of hope, forgiveness. Pleads of guilt and remorse echo from one face to another. Two young boys, one deemed less than human, the other wrestling to reconcile the world he hears, and the world he sees.

A few short phrases - a denial of a gift; the disowning of a friendship - never had such consequences. Day after day the boy returns to the familiar meeting place only to greet an empty seat across the fence. Every hour loneliness finds shame as he hears his own words of betrayal, wondering if he ushered in the death of his only friend whom he is conditioned to hate, but only feels love. He continues to hold on to hope, with the prospect of again seeing the only thing that seemed to make sense, the boy continues to return wanting, hoping, waiting.

A dream becoming reality, feeling as though his heart joined his stomach, the boy never thought of what he would say, only prayed he could say anything at all. Excruciating silence acted as a wall between the two boys, being lifted by 'I'm sorry'. Unblemished memories of a betrayal and denial of his person flooded his mind, infinite reasons to forever end the forbidden friendship that had held them both together.

Peeling his eyes from the ground, the physical repercussions of his friends words are revealed. It wasn't the pain from a beating that was displayed on this young boy's face. A pain brought on by the shattering of relationship gripped his somber appearance. Again, from across the fence, the words 'I'm sorry; are we still friends?' are uttered. An eternity of thought followed. The silence and the pain were interrupted and broken by a toothless grin, 'of course we are!'

this is grace.
this is love.

*scene from the movie 'The Boy in Stryped Pajamas'