Silenced

I watched her tears darken the sidewalk. The roaring cars rushing behind me drowned out my thoughts. What was I supposed to say? What could I say to someone who had lost so much? I knelt beside her and wrapped my arms around her shaking shoulders. She jerked at the contact raising her tear stained face to stare at me with haunted eyes. I squeezed her once before pulling away. I felt I needed to say something, but all I could do was shake my head at the injustice of it all. I thought she would tell me to leave, that I didn’t have a right to be there, that I would never understand her pain, but she merely nodded once and I finally let the tears fall.