Lost Love [complete]

Short Story -  [Write Your Ending Contest]

[The words in bold have been written by @DarknessAndLight , the rest of the story has been written by me. Enjoy ^^]

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All that was left of it was a picture-tucked away in the corner of one of her drawers, hidden underneath a box, covered by old linens. It wasn't even in good condition. The corners were chipped, the ink was fading and there was a long scratch that ran from one side to the other, connecting them, like a line between two dots, engraved deeply into the paper cutting the man in half.

Man. Man might not have been the right word, but boy wasn't either, the same way she hadn't exactly been a woman back then and hadn't been a girl either. It was during that time in between where nothing was sure but everything was possible.

Nobody knew about the picture. Not her five children, not her nine grandchildren and certainly not her husband. This was all that was left and it hurt to think it had to be hidden clandestinely this way.

Oh, there were pictures of him elsewhere, in their house. He was on many walls. He was even in her bedroom. But he wasn't hers on those pictures the way he was on the one tucked in the drawer. It was her in his eyes, he had said, and even after all these years, after everything, she still believed him.

That picture was all that was left, yes, and it was hidden, but it was better like this. Because she didn't, couldn't share this with anyone else, share this part of him, this small reminder. That was all she had left. On that picture, he was hers, and strangely enough, she was his too.

It didn't matter that they weren't together anymore. Yes it hurt the kind of hurt that could kill you. But that was the way things worked. Sometimes you need to let go of things, of people, who you know would never be a part of your life no matter what you did.

The decision to leave him had been hers, a decision that she still doubted.

Once in a while the irritating question of 'what if' would poke at her brains, forcing her to think over the past and sift through all those memories that where etched within the folds of her heart, never to be forgotten. The laughter hidden in those black and white pictures, the secret smiles they used to exchange while miles apart, still echoed in her mind every time she thought about him.

He was always present within her, in the back of her mind and sometimes in front of her eyes in her dreams.

Even after so many years of non-existence contact she still remembered every detail, every single line on his face, and the crinkles near his eyes when he smiled that soft smile and the glow he always had on his face in her presence. It was one of the things she loved so much about him - he adored her, worshipped her like she was his own Goddess.

The protectiveness he had for her was amazing and it was because of this reason that she always wondered why God had played such a cruel trick on them. Why had he made them a part of the same family? It didn't seem fair, not when they harbored such strong feelings for each other, such feelings of passion that would have set a forest on fire.

She could easily recollect those times when they would slip out of the house during one of his visits, lying to their parents about going on treks, when in fact they would sneak out to the private tree-house they had created for themselves. Those precious moments, filled with sweet talks, loving caresses and soft whispers were a talisman that she held close to her chest when she walked down the aisle in the year 1960.

It was the last time she had laid eyes on him.

There had been no expression on his face then, no lingering sadness, agony or pain of watching the only woman he loved marry someone else. While her heart was breaking on the inside, he stood still, unmoving and unyielding. That sight hurt her more than the screams she longed to hear from him, reflecting the pain she was feeling. She never fully understood why he had acted that way.