My Parents Died Before Graduation and I Thought No One Would Be There for Me — Then Two Hands Covered My Eyes From Behind
And before I could get another word out, he crossed the space between us and pulled me into a hug so fierce it drove the breath out of me.
He did not care that my cap knocked crooked against his shoulder, or that families were streaming past us on both sides toward the bleachers.
He wrapped both arms around me and held on like a man trying to close a wound, like he was trying to stitch back together, with the sheer force of his grip, every single month we had spent apart and silent.
And every tear I had been fighting down all morning, all spring, all seven months, broke loose at once, and I put my face into the rough fabric of his uniform jacket and I fell apart, and my brother held me up while I did.
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