In the Ashes of our Love

Submitted into Contest #237 in response to: Write a story about a first or last kiss.... view prompt

0 comments

Sad

February 14th,

Today is the day! Like every year before, I get to spoil her on the biggest love day of the year. I know it sounds kind of sappy, but I really get a kick out of spending all of Valentine's Day with her.

I started the day by throwing open the curtains and bringing her breakfast in bed. I made waffles for her, and I brought her a big cup of coffee. To add a bit of decor to the breakfast I went out to the yard and cut her some fresh flowers too. Something was wrong though. She just sat there, silent, and not eating anything or having any of the coffee. She had never acted this way before on Valentine's Day morning, it made me...sad. Oh well, maybe it's just that she wasn't hungry, yeah, that's probably it.

Not to be defeated by the whole breakfast situation, I got myself ready for the day. After I got dressed, I took her outside to finish watching the sunrise. We sat on our patio swing in silence, bathing in the warm morning sunshine and listening to all of the birds singing their little songs. I really appreciated the times that we could enjoy quietly these days, at least I really tried to. The silence was something that started happening more recently, and though it's taken me some time to get used to, I think I'm starting to get better with it. The rest of the sunrise was beautiful, and I think she really liked it too.

After sitting out back for a while longer, I decided it was time to try coffee again, I know that I needed some. We took a walk down to Grinderz coffee shop in the middle of our little downtown. When we got to the coffee shop, the barista asked me what I wanted to drink. I wanted an Americano. It was my favorite. The barista told me that she would have it right up. I had to stop her and ask why she didn't ask my love if she wanted anything. I received a weird look, and she went on making my coffee. How rude! Definitely going to have to give them a bad review on this one. I left without my coffee I was so enraged by it.

I decided to take my girl for a walk in the park. I knew it would help to calm me down after the experience at the coffee shop. Walking through all of the trees and feeling the slight breeze on my skin really made me feel better. It was made even more magical by the fact that I was doing all of this with my favorite person in the world. I wanted to remember this forever, so I stopped a man walking his dog and asked if he would take our picture with my phone. He raised an eyebrow and looked at both of us. He appeared to think about it for a minute, but in the end, he decided to take the picture for me...what a nice guy. After the picture, I shook his hand and thanked him. He and his dog went on their merry way, and we did the same. It was a great photo, but in a way, it failed to capture the beauty she had displayed in past years. She didn't seem herself at all.

The walk had really made me hungry, and since she skipped breakfast, I imagined that she was hungry, too. I asked if she wanted to go grab a pizza. I took her silence to mean yes, so we headed to Papa Luigi's for a big pizza pie. When we got to the pizza parlor, we were shown to our table. The waiter only gave us one menu though. What is wrong with everyone today? I called him back to the table and asked for a menu for my love. He asked if I really needed a second menu. I was really irritated and told him in an angry tone that one would be fine. Since she wasn't being a very choosy person today, I decided that I would take care of ordering the pizza. I ordered it loaded with my favorite toppings. Once the pizza arrived, I stuffed myself to the point that it hurt. Still, my love didn't even take a nibble out of the slice I put on her plate. I was really worried about her. I asked her if she was ok, and she didn't say anything at all. In fact, she hadn't said one word the whole day.

After pizza, we went to the theater to see the latest horror, Valentine's Day mash up, Dating the Dead. I was lucky enough to get the last two seats available for us. Everyone wanted to see this one. Shortly after it started, a man came in a demanded my girl's seat. He said that she didn't need it. We exchanged some heated words, but the ushers came in and broke it up. They gave that jerk the seat! I spent the whole movie sitting in the aisle so that she had a comfortable place to sit. As expected, the movie was pretty cheesy, but the jump scares were great. My lady must have had nerves of steel, she didn't flinch during the whole thing.

On the way back home after the movie, we took a little detour down to the boardwalk by Cinder Lake. We got to take in more fresh air, which I needed after having to sit by that jerk in the movie theater. We sat on a bench and took in the late afternoon sun, and the sounds of the gentle waves of the lake splashing on the rocks near the shore. I had some leftover popcorn from the movie that I tossed out to the seagulls floating on the water. We enjoyed more of that silence together, then I took her home.

I carried her over the threshold of the front door when we got back. I looked at her deeply, and with tears in my eyes, I kissed her before setting her back on the mantle of our fireplace, being sure to wipe my fingerprints off of her beautiful urn. Although I tried today, things will never be the same and I can't bear another day without her. So, to those of you that read this entry, I'm going to join her, wherever she is. Goodbye to you all.

February 16, 2024 22:56

You must sign up or log in to submit a comment.

0 comments

RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

Bring your short stories to life

Fuse character, story, and conflict with tools in Reedsy Studio. 100% free.