The past seven years

He stood against his car by the other side of the road watching his friends talk and laugh about all their times apart.

They all seemed happy without him and he smiled when Nathan made everyone laugh being his usual self.

Then he focused on her. She only seemed to grow more beautiful as the years went by. He hated not being able to tell her, it was obvious why he hadn't. They all thought he'd been dead for three and a half years, but he didn't blame them, he had almost died in fact.

The blast had killed everyone else, but his breath didn't seem to leave him even as he felt the pain of every broken bone in his body. He'd been nearly buried alive by concrete debris and he didn't know how long he laid there in excruciating pain before help came. They'd thought he was another dead body until a young man had noticed the slight twitch of his hand.