Her back was turned toward him, and her dress was blowing slightly because of the wind. She was a few feet ahead of him since she was so eager to get to the top of the hill. The sun was setting and she couldn’t take her eyes off of the pink and orange sky. He’d planned a fancy dinner for her at an expensive restaurant but she didn’t care about that, she only wanted to hike to the highest point of the city and watch the sun. Her lips were stained with red lipstick, her cheeks matching the rosy color. Just before he began to walk up to stare at the view that fascinated her, she began to spin around…
Luke opened his eyes, the bitter cold wind drawing him from his daydream. Sometimes he didn’t get as far with the memory, some days he got further. He stared at the cold stone in front of it and traced the engravings with his finger. Her full name was written out followed by her date of birth and the last day that Luke ever saw her. “I told you I’d always remember” he whispered, tears beginning to fall from his face. He began to remember the second worst day of his life. As soon as she called after what was supposed to just be a “routine check up” he knew something was wrong. Before she began treatment she asked him to give her one last date to make her feel special, like the only woman in the world. Luke sobbed, resting his hand on the gray stone. He was on his knees, flowers that he had brought laid on the frozen grass. During the last few days when she was only awake for a couple hours a day, she made sure to tell him her last request. She told him that she wanted him to remember that one last date, she wanted him to remember the sunset and what she looked like that day. Begging, she asked him not to remember her in a hospital bed, but to remember her on the top of the hill and staring at the city. That was her plan all along, to make one last perfect day for him to remember after she was gone. Now he made it a routine every day to visit her and make sure he recalled the night to maintain his promise to her.
