Memories

The living-room clock struck 3:00 p.m., she got up from the sofa and went to the window. It was a rainy Sunday afternoon. It was dark outside, but not as dark as her heart.

It had been exactly three years since her son had left to the war. In her boy’s bedroom, she insisted on keeping everything as he had left. The same bed sheet, the same messed-up desk which still had Robert Musil’s book open on page ninety-eight, she even insisted on keeping on it the cup of tea that he used to drink before sleeping.

Her husband had passed away a few months ago; she had never experienced that loneliness. She used to think she was too much old for morning walks or comings to Sunday masses and she was not able to see that much to pass her time at a sewing machine.

She closed the window and walked towards where the old piano was. She sat down, cleaned up some powder which had gathered over it and tried some notes. She remembered the time when her husband used to play some good jazz on Monday nights, when he came back from the government department while she followed him by drinking some French wine. She made herself be standing and started crying. She cried as much as she had never cried during those three years, because she realised that she wouldn’t have her husband back and her son would never come back home.

That was the moment when she made a decision. She left the living room without hurry and walked towards the bathroom, picked up a bottle of her medication which Adalberto, her private doctor, had prescribed to help her sleep. She passed by the kitchen and brought a glass of water with her to the bedroom. She took ten pills at once. She thought that taking away her own life would be a lot easier. She lied down on her bed and waited for the sleep to come up to her slowly, and, the next day, there were no memories anymore, no more tears, no more pain... there wasn’t anything else but the certainty of death...

This short story was written by one of my mates, 

Amanda Luna.