Flash Fiction Challenge!

Challenge 8 - Memories

"The letter lay untouched on his desk, its creases marked by dust."

The letter lay untouched on his desk, its creases marked by dust. Gently, he lifted it from the desk and placed it in his desk drawer. "I'll deal with that later." He said aloud to himself. He always said he'd deal with it later, yet later never came. Later began 15 Winters ago, when the love of his life left suddenly, leaving behind only a crisp white envelope on his writing desk. The letter, now yellow and faded, remained sealed. He couldn't bring himself to open it, every time he took it out of the drawer and looked at it, her face lingered in his mind, her laugh tormented his thoughts. "How could she leave me like this?" He cried out to the ceiling. The maid stood outside his door, hearing his cries. "Oh dear,' she whispered to herself, "it seems the master has opened his desk drawer again. How I wish I could tell him everything, but until he opens that letter, I have to keep my thoughts to myself. That was the agreement after all." She sighed and gently tapped on the door with her knuckles. 

"Elena, is that you?" The man called out. "Yes it's me Sir, I came to bring you some evening tea and biscuits. May I come in?" The maid inquired. There was a shuffling from inside the room, and the door slowly moved open. "You may, and sit with me a while if you will? I could use the company, these winters creep in on me, yet they never fail to feel like a lifetime long each time" He sighed, and walked back to his desk. In front of his desk was a set of lounge chairs, surrounding an ornate coffee table. He motioned at Elena to take a sit across from him, and she did so after serving her master, pouring tea in a beautiful porcelain cup adorned with nightingales, and placing two delicate biscuits on a matching porcelain plate. Upon sitting, he looked across at her with wild eyes. She felt pity for him, knowing how much he struggled, seeing him year after year as he fought with his own fear. "Elena, I tried again this season," he began, lifting his cup and taking a sip, "I just can't bring myself to do it. Whatever could she have said that she couldn't say to my face? It must be something terrible, perhaps she was a married woman already, or secretly a murderer..." the thoughts raced through his head and he sighed again, sipping his tea some more and looking out of the window to the slowly falling flakes, silently pattering against the window and covering his lawn in a blanket of white. "I miss her Elena." He said, continuing to look out of the window. Elena knew her role here, to listen and be a friend, but she wished she could do more for him. Year after year she had cared for him, seen his torment, and she even had the answer to his struggles...yet she was bound not to say a word. Not until he opened that letter. "Sir," she began, taking a deep breath before continuing, "if I may be so bold, I think you should open the letter she left. No matter what you find, these are her last thoughts she had given to you, and I'm sure she wanted you to know them" Elena turned pink, realising she had in fact overstepped, and waited for a scolding. Surprisingly, the scolding never came. His eyes softened, and he looked back at her. 

"Elena, I know you are right...15 long years I have picked up that letter, and 15 long years I have lacked the courage to undo the seal and read her last words to me. Part of me fears that once I do, I have no more words to hear from her, no more new thoughts....it is like a part of her lives in that envelope". He placed his cup down on the tray and walked over to his desk. "However, I also admire your courage to directly confront your master this way," he paused, choosing his next words carefully, knowing he couldn't take them back, "Perhaps that is the kind of courage I need in my life".

He turned to face Elena, tears in his eyes. "Will you open this with me?" He asked her quietly, standing beside the desk looking like a vulnerable little boy. "Sir...of course, I will help you through this" she slowly raised from her chair and walked towards him, the shock visible on her face. "You don't need to look so shocked, I know it's been 15 years, but I'm getting old, and perhaps someday I won't be able to even read her words for myself anymore, her handwriting lost to my old age. I need to read, I need my closure at last. That is the reason I asked you into my office tonight Elena, I don't want to do this alone." He sniffled slightly, then coughed and straightened himself up. Elena silently offered him a handkerchief, "Lets open it together" she said. At long last, Elena thought to herself. He would finally know the truth.