The Melancholic Widows and the Captivating Stranger

I was a bit nervous when I first met Mrs. Blake. She was the mother of my best friend, Clark, and had been a close friend of my own mother for years. My parents had recently died in a car accident on their way to pick me up from college. I had been devastated by their loss, but a close family friend named Mr. Blake had dropped everything to make sure I was okay during this time of need.

Mr. Blake and my father were not only friends; they had been best friends since high school, and he felt it was his duty to do what he could for me in the wake of their passing. He tried to help me get away from all of the funeral planning and arrangements that needed to be made, but there were just too many things that needed to be taken care of right away that I couldn't get out of helping with.

Despite all this, Mr. Blake did his best to make sure that I wasn't left alone all day as I went through these tasks, helping wherever possible and trying to keep my mind off things when it couldn't be helped. Both he and his wife, Mrs. Blake, took turns staying with me at home or going with me to meetings with lawyers, insurance agents, and so on. While there was no denying that they were both good people trying to help me through this difficult time and give me some semblance of normalcy during it, there was something about them that I couldn't quite put my finger on at the time which made me slightly uncomfortable around them... but I could never quite figure out why; after all, weren't they just being nice?

Finally, finally all the arrangements had been made and I returned to college for the remainder of the semester. The Blakes had tried to convince me otherwise - not just because I seemed so devastated by their death but also because they genuinely wanted to help - but there really was nothing more they could do for me if I stayed at home any longer than necessary. It hurt like hell leaving them behind - I felt like part of my soul was torn when we waved goodbye to each other on that fateful day - but they understood how important it was for me to go back to school in order to allow myself some semblance of normality again.

I attended classes as usual, hung out with my friends again (and introduced them to Clark), and desperately tried not to think about home too much... which was hard because every time I closed my eyes at night or opened them in the morning, there they were before me: Dad's big brown eyes staring back at me while Mom's soft blonde hair tickled my face as she kissed me goodbye in the morning before work.

The end result is that as the semester drew closer towards its end and final exams approached, I found myself feeling more anxious than ever about getting through it alive! Between having an emotionally-draining few weeks after leaving home and being stressed out about studying for exams (which you know always help your mood!), my stress levels soared higher than ever before... but then one day after class ended for the night and everyone else left for their dorms or elsewhere, Mr. Blake sidled up next to me as we stood by our lockers after putting away our books for the day. He smiled warmly at me with kind eyes that reminded me so much of my father's eyes... especially now that Dad was gone...

"You seem pretty stressed out these days," he said gently. "Everything okay?"

I looked up at him with a pained expression on my face as tears began forming in the corners of my eyes yet again - why did they keep doing this?! It was almost like they didn't want me to stop crying! - before nodding slowly back towards him without saying anything else in response. He nodded back sympathetically before placing a hand gently on my shoulder.

"You know," he began softly as we headed towards the exit together side-by-side (Mr Blake still holding onto my shoulder), "I've known your mother since middle school." His voice grew kinder as he spoke: "She would have wanted you back at home where she could look after you herself instead of being stuck here so far away."

I raised an eyebrow curiously in response as we walked past several students who were either returning late from somewhere else or heading out somewhere themselves; most gave us odd looks upon seeing us together like this...

"What are you talking about?" I asked quietly once we'd passed everyone else by and were alone again walking outside towards his car parked nearby (mine having been towed three days earlier). "Mom would have wanted what?" I pressed him further when he didn't answer immediately; "What are you talking about?"

* * *

"Well..." Mr Blake said in a thoughtful tone after taking another moment or two to gather his thoughts before answering: "Have you ever heard anything strange about her?"