Jana walked through the field, the fresh, perfectly trimmed grass crunching slightly beneath her feet. Her eyes passed over the gravestones lining each side of her path, sometimes lingering on a particular one. But it wasn't the right one, not this time.
Finally, she found the one she was looking for. It wasn't extravagant like some of them--just a small, simple stone with a name, a birth date and a date of death. Nothing else was engraved, and there were no flowers at the grave.
She was unloved. The memories flashed through Jana's mind. She briefly scanned the dates of birth and death. Forty years old when the woman died. There was no "beloved daughter," no "cherished wife," no words of love at all on the stone. It was not shaped into a cross or a Star of David; there was no sign of faith at all on the stone. It stood out in its plainness. Whoever at least cared enough to put the grave there, long since had forgotten that it was there at all. Nobody remembered Catherine Joan, nor what had happened in her lifetime.
Jana paused for a moment, bowing her head before kneeling before the grave. She didn't know why this one in particular was the one; she never did. But all the graves she was drawn to were those like Jana: those with a Fate. She wondered briefly if her destiny was the same as Catherine's: unknown, unloved.
A tear was about to fall from Jana's eye when she sensed someone standing behind her. Before she could turn around, she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder and an old man's voice. "Was this somebody you loved?"
Jana wondered at the question. It seemed awfully odd for someone visiting someone's grave. Wordlessly, she shook her head no.
"Why are you here then?"
She stood up and turned around to look him in the eye. The man was a few inches taller than her. She still didn't say anything.
"Can you talk, girl?" The man seemed concerned.
"Yes." Jana quietly looked at the ground. She never liked the attention to be on herself.
"Why are you here?" The man repeated his question.
"Because... I am." There was no other answer to give him. Not that one of the others would understand. She worried for a moment that he might think she was trying to be smart or rude, but he seemed to understand as he nodded.
“Yes. You are here.” The man’s eyes smiled, but he said nothing more.
Jana lapsed back into silence. She turned around and looked at the grave. Both of them looked at it in silence a moment, almost as if it was a grandfather and daughter both sadly viewing the grave of their dead relative. It was Jana who broke the silence finally. “She was unloved.”
The old man nodded. “I know.”
“She thought she had a dazzling fate. She thought she was destined for great things.” Jana closed her eyes as she heard her voice speak words she didn’t command her mouth to say.
“She was. She did great things.” The man put a hand on Jana’s shoulder again.
“Nobody ever recognized her for them,” Jana opened her eyes and suddenly felt anger. She took a step away from the old man; his hand fell limply to the side as she slid away from it. “That’s the way it will always be.” She turned and started to walk away.
“No… stay a moment.”
“I have to go.” She always knew that would be the way it was, the way it had to be. Backstage, making it all happen while nobody ever knew it or appreciated it. Her future was already destined; nobody would ever know her name but herself. Nobody had known the man’s name except his parents, and even they forgot he existed. It was their way. They melted into shadows and never came out. But it was her life, and it always would be.
“It doesn’t have to be that way.” He still didn’t move. But his voice made her stop, though her mind dismissed his words. “We don’t have to melt into those shadows.”
She nodded. His mind had never touched hers, yet they knew. She realized that they would always know. Somewhere inside.
She turned around, and looked at him curiously. She nodded decisively. “What’s your name?”
“No. It’s not important anymore. My time has passed, my fate has passed. Yours doesn’t have to.”
She understood. They’d always understand. There were others, others that she didn’t think existed. She nodded. “My name…” She paused, never having said this before. After a hesitation, she finished the sentence. “My name is Jana.”