The Mourning After

Today I laid a good friend to rest.

When times were tough, I could rely on them to take my mind of the harsh mundanity of life and inspire me to forget all negativity for a while. They introduced me to some wonderful new locations, fresh ideals, and an entirely different lifestyle as well as a way of surviving that I never thought possible. Whenever money was tight I only ever had to immerse myself in their world for a brief moment to remind myself that, no matter how bad things seemed to me, it was luxury compared to what they’d gone through in the past and continued to struggle with as each new day dawned.

For a long time I spent my working hours looking forward to the point where I could finally put my duties behind me and spend my evenings with them in quiet comfort. Our relationship had a closeness whereby we didn’t need to speak to one another to communicate, and yet there were never any awkward silences. If anything, the silence between us merely reinforced the fact that we needed each other to continue our journey and that we’d be there for each other until the bitter end. In the past I had watched helplessly as they dropped to their knees in agony, longing for someone to take away their pain… and I was the only one capable of stepping up to the plate. Whenever they had to venture into new territory, I was there to watch their back and they repaid me by making my own life so much brighter.

It wasn’t until their journey finally came to an end today that I suddenly realised how they filled so many empty hours with joy, and yet I never knew their name. We may have walked the wastelands together in search of a bright new future, carried each other through dark times and dragged each other to better places, but in all that time we never took even a brief moment to exchange names.

Now that it is over I mourn my friend the Lone Wanderer, and hope they continue to work towards a better tomorrow while I embark on a new journey… to fill the void.

• From Acorns to Fish
• Alone In The Dark
• Why Borderlands is Better Than Borderlands 2
• Falling Short
• The Division: A Guide to Surviving the Dark Zone Solo