If I had a photograph of you...

by Maleghast

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Eric lifted his head up out of his hands. They were wet from the tears that were still silently streaming down his face. His eyes were red, raw from him trying to rub them dry and banish this outward display of grief, even though there was no one there to see it.

He looked across at the bed. The nurses had disconnected the drip and ventilator, pushed back the machines and dimmed the lights a little. He could tell that they wanted to extubate as well, but that would not happen until the post. Despite all of their efforts Jenny did not look at peace; she barely looked like herself.

Eric made himself really look at her. A voice in the back of his mind kept telling him that he would only have so many more chances to commit her face to memory, even this injured version of her face. He had expected to see her face every day for many more years to come. If he had known he would have paid more attention to it, learned it more closely. Now he would have only a few photographs to help him keep her in his memory.

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Comments

Average Reader Rating: 5.0 stars out of 5

  1. If I had a photograph of you...

    PyroPunk 51 (PPP LoA)'s Buddy Icon PyroPunk 51 (PPP LoA)

    Posted about 1 month ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Vivid imagery. Very sad though.

  2. If I had a photograph of you...

    SKermitgorf's Buddy Icon SKermitgorf

    Posted about 1 month ago

    deeply heartfelt and sad. My mother recently passed away, and this makes me think what my father is thinking. you write with such emotion and pain, the reader feels it.

  3. If I had a photograph of you...

    Maleghast's Buddy Icon Maleghast

    Posted about 1 month ago

    Hey there PyroPunk 51 (PPP LoA)... Thanks for stopping by. I don’t mean to make you (my readers) sad with this one, but at the same time, I am glad (no matter how that perverse that may sound) that the sadness works / comes across; I agonised over this one trying to get the tone right.

  4. If I had a photograph of you...

    Maleghast's Buddy Icon Maleghast

    Posted about 1 month ago

    Hey Kermitgorf… I’m so sorry to hear that you have lost your mother; that is a real tragedy and one that I must admit I dread coming to me. I had the idea for this ficlet after watching “The Fountain” (a wonderful if very sad film by Darren Aronofsky). I tried to reach into myself and pull out the empathy I had for the situation in that film, and I got it in the end by trying to imagine how I would feel if I lost someone to death instead of a break-up. I hope that I never do; imagining it was enough.

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