The Box

Jack tossed and turned in his bed. He buried his face into the softness of the pillow hoping to blackout the thoughts of his troubled heart and mind. Then he turned over and faced the ceiling, gasping for air.

His thoughts were still wide awake.

Jack got out of his bed, turned on the light and walked towards the shelf where the box was.
It stood steady and peaceful. As he opened the lid of the box, waves of memories came crashing against the shore of his unsettled mind. His fingers ran through several mementos until alas, he felt the smooth edges of the letter he was looking for.

Jack stared at it for a little while. The colour of the envelope has faded at its corner. Ever so gently, he pulled out the letter within and patiently unfolded it. He took a deep breath and began to read it.

Reading the letter felt as if time stood still. The past, the present and the future seemed to intertwined into one, spiralling him down into a warp of distant memories and afterthoughts. He felt his heart beat raced across a battle field of emotions and his eyes fighting against the tears of regrets.

Regrets.

Flipping through the pages of the letters did not right the wrongs neither did it change the past nor the future. It did nothing. Jack was empty. He was nothing.

Jack folded the letter and puts it back into the envelope. As he was about to cover the box with the lid, he noticed the photo of the person he once knew...

"I miss you," Jack whispered as he finally covers the box.

******************************************

There are things or people in life we hold on to very dearly.
When the threat of hurt comes hurling towards us
and in the process of protecting ourselves from that
- in another words, in the process of being selfish -
we think it wise to let go of those things,
causing hurts that would last a life time to the
things or people we presumably treasure with all our heart.

Sometimes, it's better to march forth towards the arrows of hurt as naked as we came,
as vulnerable as we can be and as selfless as love should be,
then to lose grip of the precious gems of our lives.