Unhappily Ever After

Braille #24

"Some people says you're a great author. Is that true?" A blind teenaged boy asked me. He's looking at nowhere while sitting beside me on a bench.

"I don't know. I'm not actually that confident when it comes to my literary works." I said with my hand fidgeting because of my anxieties.

"Really? But, you've published lots of books already, didn't you?" He said. Still unconvinced with my answer.

"Uh, yeah! But I didn't expect that they'll publish my works. I'm just writing down whatever comes in my mind, that's all." I said with uneasiness evident in my voice, maybe because I was trying to avoid the fact that he may ask me what my stories were all about.

"I wanna read your works." He said with a smile, but it became a melancholic one.

"...But I know I can't..." He said once more and looked down.

"I'll let you read my works, soon." I said and held his right
hand.

I saw that hope aroused on him, based on the priceless smile he gave me.

"I'll be waiting..."

Years after our last conversation regarding my published works, I'm now ready to let him read the contents of it. The stories I made for him, confessing all of my unsaid feelings towards him.

I've spent my whole savings just to convert my stories into a published book written in Braille. It is a writing method used for blind people to be able to read.

It's been years since I left our hometown but everything feels as if I just left yesterday.

I was standing on their house's doorsteps. Looking dumb who doesn't know how to knock.

I heaved a heavy sigh and knocked on the door.

Seconds passed, his mother opened the door and welcomed me inside.

"I'm glad to see you again. How are you?" She started.

"I'm fine. I actually left because I have to pursue my writing career. By the way, how's Levi? Is he still living here? I got my promised books for him." I said with a bright smile curved on my lips.

The mere act of saying his name gives me tons butterflies, raging in my belly. His face pictured in my head makes me smile in an instant and gives me the urge of hugging him right from the moment that I'll be seeing him again.

Her smile faded and her eyes became sad. The atmosphere became nostalgic and there's this unfathomable pain that instantly stabbed my chest for no apparent reason.

"Levi is gone... He died three years ago. But he left me this." She handed me a piece of paper with his handwriting on it.

Those are just simple words but meant a lot from me. Those three little words that broke my heart into tiny million pieces.

"I Love You."

Written on 11-29-2019 10:41 p.m-11:00 p.m