The Last Recording

She touched the edges of the old, worn photograph with trembling fingers. The image was fading but the memories were vivid.

It was a photo of the two of them, taken on a sunny afternoon by the lake. Their smiles were wide and full of hope. She couldn’t remember the moment it was taken. But she remembered the feeling – the warmth of his arm around her, the sound of his laughter, the way his eyes lit up when he looked at her.

Every year on this day, she pulled out that photo. Her heart was heavy with the burden of time. It was the only photo of them together, that they had ever been happy, that they had ever loved so deeply.

But that photo wasn’t the most precious thing she had.

No, it was hidden, kept in an old jewellery box at the back of her closet. She pulled it out only once a year. On this day – the anniversary of the day he had left.

She picked up the box, her hands shaking. Inside, beneath layers of tissue paper, was a small, velvet pouch. She opened it carefully, revealing a tiny cassette tape.

The tape was old, the label faded with time. But the message recorded on it was as clear as it had been the day she had first listened to it.

His voice. His last words to her.

She remembered the day he had given it to her. The way he had held it close and whispered in her ear that he had something special for her. She had laughed, thinking it was a joke. But when he handed her the tape, she saw the seriousness in his eyes.

"Listen to this when you miss me," he had said.

She hadn't understood then. She hadn't known that in just a few days, he would be gone. Taken away from her in a cruel twist of fate.

Now, every year, she listened to the tape. The sound of his voice brought her back to life. Even if only for a few precious moments. He talked about love, hope, and the future they had dreamed of together. He told her to be strong, to live her life to the fullest, even without him.

And every year, she cried. Crying for the life they had lost, for the dreams that would never be fulfilled. For the love that had been so cruelly cut short.

But she also smiled. Because in those few minutes, he was with her again. His words, recorded so long ago, still gave her strength. Still filled her with a love that had never truly ended.

When the tape finished, she would wrap it back in tissue paper, and carefully put it back in the box.

She would wipe her tears and move on, knowing she had found something that many people never experienced. A love that transcends time and space and will always be with her.

And she knew that as long as she had that tape, she would never be truly alone.

_Ravi D