Strawberries || short stories!

Elise

A/N: Hey ya'll! This story won first place in a local short story contest, so I figured I'd publish it here! It's based on a tiktok prompt from the account @/writing..prompt

Also, tw! 

It's been 366 days since Elise went missing. Yeah, I'm counting, and what about it? I can't shake the last words she said to me: "I love you". They ring in my head, like some game of neurological ping-pong. I didn't get the chance to respond, she took off down the airport walkway for her expedition and never came back. I wanted to say them back, desperately. I waited anxiously, counting the days until her return, counting the days until I could tell her I felt the same.

I remember waiting at the airport, and her friends coming towards me with looks on their faces I couldn't quite make out. I looked behind them, confused as to why Elise wasn't with them. Why isn't she here? I'm so sorry. Elise went missing on our expedition. We looked everywhere but we couldn't find her. I'm so sorry.

I try to shake the thoughts of them, of her out of my head. I push the suffocating covers of my bed off of me and remind myself to focus only on the positive. I make a mental list of everything good that might happen today. I might get a promotion. I might have that new taco place for lunch. But before I can do any of that, I have to check my phone. I have to put on clothes. I have to brush my teeth, etc., etc.

Checking my phone is always my first step in my morning routine: it has my news and my calendar. It glares at me with its ocean background and its 7:36am. There are a few news notifications - my favorite football team just won their game last night, the president signed a law that taxes carbon emissions. Both good things. I move on. My calendar tells me I have lunch with a prospective client today. Damn. No new taco place, then. And then: 213 texts from Elise. My heart pounds. Elise? Maybe she's back! But as soon as I open my phone to the texts, I see that they have dates on them - the last one dating back to about a year ago. My hope fades slowly and is then extinguished. But, hey, at least they're messages. I decide, against my better judgement, to look at them. Who knows, maybe they'll help me find her.

Hey. I'm on the plane, so you probably won't get this for a while. But I'm sorry for just leaving you with what I said. I meant it, though. (1/2/19)

Jesus, I just figured out that this mountain doesn't have wifi, so I guess you won't get these. Pray for me lol (1/2/19)

I laugh. It's refreshing to hear her words. I scroll through the next few messages, telling me what she had for dinner. Then I find one that stands out to me: a clue.

Honestly this has become a venting space for me-

Anyway, they said on the radio a blizzard's going to come through. That doesn't sound good, but I'm hoping for the best. (1/5/19)

Wait, I didn't hear anything about a blizzard, why did no one tell me?

Extra cold today. Wishing you were here to cuddle me. (1/6/19)

You have no idea, Elise.

Oh, by the way, we're almost at the top of the mountain! (1/6/19)

This is a travel diary. Hope washes over me again with the knowing that I might be able to find Elise with these messages. I keep scrolling.

I hate to sound all end-of-the-world, but I think this blizzard is coming. Shit. (1/7/19)

It came. (1/7/19)

I don't, like, want you to worry though, I'm like 99% sure we'll be fine. (1/7/19)

85%. We're kind of running low on food, but I'm sure the blizzard will pass and it'll be safe for us to go down the mountain. (1/8/19)

That number has significantly dropped. Miley and Jessica are pigs. (1/9/19)

I scroll down. The messages are getting increasingly specific.

I don't know if you'll see this, but we're on the west side of the mountain. I don't know exactly where we are, but there are lots of Spruces around us. We're in the three small blue tents. (1/11/19)

I keep scrolling.

Shit, Emma, I'm really panicking now. We can't move because there would be an avalanche if we did, and we have a grand total of one tin of crackers left. I don't want to die here. (1/13/19)

I'm fighting tears now. I feel so...helpless. Like she did. I can't help her, she's gone. I let that thought sink in. She's gone. I have to know what happened to her. I scroll down to the last message.

Emma. I don't know what else to do, so I'm just going to say everything I need to here. Emma, you are everything. I love you more than I have ever loved another person before. I am a better person when I'm around you. God, I miss you so much. I miss your eyes, and I miss your heart. I miss everything about you, and knowing I'll never see you again is the hardest thing I've ever had to accept. Goodbye is the hardest thing to say. I want you to know that these past few months have been so amazing, and that I really hope that you don't mourn me forever when they find me up here. Please, find someone else. I want you to be happy. I don't know if these will ever send, but I want you to remember, forever, that I love you. I always will. Remember when I said goodbye is the hardest thing to say? I was wrong. It's this: I want Miley and Jessica to survive. The only way that happens is if they...is if I...die, and they...

You get it.

All my love, Elise. (1/23/19)

I gasp. How could they?They came home and told me she wasn't found, they said...They said, with straight faces that they were sorry. How could they be sorry when they f------ ate her? My sobs come in bursts. I fall back against my bed. No amount of positive thinking will ever make this better. I try to remind myself that this is what she wanted. She sacrificed herself. I'm begging myself to remember that part of her. Selfless and loving. But I can't stop envisioning her bones, alone and silent, next to her phone. How did the messages even send anyway? I guess it finally got signal? I collapse onto my bed, not knowing how to proceed. I love her. That's what I do.

"I love you too, Elise."