A Song For You

𝑷𝑹𝑶𝑳𝑶𝑮𝑼𝑬.

(Comment first time read here <3)

"He wanted you to have this."

Rory stares at Clinton Jau's hands extending a small black box adorned with vibrant red ribbons as he murmurs the words softly.

She regards him with a mix of curiosity and confusion, her gaze fixated on the mysterious package that is now rested on her hands. With delicate movements, she turns the box, exploring its every facet.

Clinton then throws a tender smile as he gently pats her head.

"Just open it when you get home," he says with a whisper, his words hanging in the air like a whispered promise.

Time seems to hold its breath as Clinton departs, leaving Rosemary standing alone amidst the sombre stillness of the graveyard.

She casts one last poignant glance at the tombstone, a pang of grief washing over her. With a heavy heart, she clenches the box tightly, supressing the tears that threatened to spill.

As she returns home, exhaustion permeated her every step, the weight of sorrow trailing behind her like a ghostly companion. The once-familiar walls of the apartment felt strangely hushed, each corner echoing an unfamiliar emptiness.

A profound sense of loss begins to settle in, casting a melancholic shadow upon her spirit. A grand piano stand quietly in the corner, its keys yearning for the touch of a certain skilled fingers. Leaning against the wall, the guitar servers as a silent reminder of shared harmonies that would never be sung again.

The presence of a certain someone lingers, like a bittersweet perfume that permeated the air, tugging at the string of her heart.

Rory gazes numbly at the photograph hanging above the television, capturing a moment of her shared happiness with a certain someone, their radiant smiles etched forever in time.

Then, as if awakened from a trance, her thoughts turn to the box Clinton has bestowed upon her.

Determination wells within Rory, overpowering the heaviness that clings to her soul.

With trembling hands, she unties the ribbons and lifts the lid revealing its mysterious contents.

To her astonishment, nestled within the confines of the box, lay a single piece of tape.

Confusion furrows her brow as she stares at the tape.

"What is this?" Rory whispers to herself and then a sudden recollection floods her mind.

Someone she dearly knows owns a camcorder.

"Collin," Rory breaths out as a glimmer of understanding flickers in her eyes as she begins to run towards the direction of their shared bedroom and begins rummaging the room to look for a tape player.

After flipping the room upside down, Rory found the tape player tucked away in a storage box, with the very camcorder she has seen Collin carries around from time to time.

Wasting no time, Rory begins to assemble the tape player in the living room. As the anticipation begins to mount within her, she gently places the tape in the player and presses the play button, unleashing a cascade of memories from the depths of the past.

"Rory!"

A voice, achingly familiar, spills forth from the television speakers, saturating the room with its warmth and tenderness.

Rosemary freezes, her entire being in disbelief as her eyes bore holes into the television screen.

Collin?

"Rory? Rosemary Laing? Can you hear me? Hehe, it's me—Collin!"

Rory sits there, transfixed, her heart caught between elation and sorrow as Collin's voice envelopes her, the tape weaving a tapestry of memories that breathes life into silence.

*****