“Who sent this?”
A brief glance from my daughter before her attention was returned to the bright screen clutched between her hands. “I didn’t order anything.”
I hesitantly ran my fingers over the label. “I’m not sure what language this is supposed to be.”
A shrug. Distant. Uncaring. “Just open it.”
I let out an aggressive exhale, knowing I wouldn’t receive any help from my youngest, especially once her focus was sorely focused on the home feed of whatever social application she happened to be perusing. Instead, I gripped the package tightly between my hands and hurried down the hallway, curiosity hastening my eager steps.
Once alone in the seclusion of my bedroom, I carefully reached for a pair of scissors, dismissing the packaging tape carefully applied along the centerfolds. It was almost like a warning, an attempt to hold back the revelation inside the cardboard walls. And with the barrier gone, I carefully looked inside.
“It can’t be,” I murmured, reaching inside to delicately grasp the silver ring glistening under the lights of my bedroom.
There was a stuttering skip to my heart’s regular rhythm as my fingers followed the initials carved into the band of the familiar symbol. “This can’t be possible.”
My wedding ring. The same object I had recently discarded, pacing the shoreline of the beach downtown, waiting for the right moment to drop the burdened jewelry into the ocean. The sands were silent, the wind gently bothering the movement of the water. An irregular tear trailed down the side of my face, watching the object disappear forever, lost to the unforgiving waves.
Yet, here it was again, waiting for me expectantly, taunting the crippling grief I had been steadily wrestling with ever since I was forced to say goodbye 263 days ago on a moody Sunday evening. A choked sob fell free my sealed lips, echoing throughout my empty bedroom, a reminder of everything I had tried to free myself from. To be left in the past where he still remained, patient blue eyes as watchful as ever.
But I would never escape his influence.
With a shaky hand, I placed the ring back inside its box, sinking to my knees as I started to fall once again.
