The Gift (Fiction)

Lisa could hardly breathe while she was scrolling and reading the long message she received. Sweat was pouring down her arms and an unpleasant heat covered her chest forcing her internally to scream “Don’t. Please, don’t”.

She met Tim a few months ago on a retreat and they immediately clicked. It was an instant attraction Lisa never felt towards anybody before. All her cells were vibrating on a higher frequency and the universe seemed to have delivered to her the perfect mate. But Tim was sick, the doctors only gave him a couple more months to live. Despite the diagnosis, Lisa fell for Tim and they had the time of their lives.

Then the harsh reality kicked in and Tim had to be taken to the hospital. No day would pass by without Lisa to visit him. She wanted to quit her job at the post office and stay with Tim but due to his severe complications, doctors advised her to keep her job and come as often as she could to visit him as she wasn’t allowed to stay there several hours next to him.

Lisa would come and read comic books to Tim. They discovered this common hobby at the retreat and since they’ve spent every evening reading passages from different books for entertainment. It has become more than a ritual, it was an integral part of their relationship which both valued very much.

Nobody understood the meaning of time as a precious commodity better than Lisa and Tim. They would cherish every single second they spent together. Nature was their biggest friend. They would lay on a blanket for hours, listening to birds singing and trees whispering.

An innocent love, so pure and yet so fragile was about to merge between two dimensions. Before passing into the invisible one, Tim has drafted a beautiful love letter for Lisa. It was his last wish to his brother, asking him to pass this letter as a digital message to Lisa two weeks after the funeral.

Lisa has worked at the post office for nearly thirty years. The whole town knew her for her friendly smile and kind words. She was always on time and when the recipient didn’t get a letter or parcel on time, she would go out of her way to do whatever it takes so that the client received the letter or package. She was one of the most respected people in the entire community.

However, Lisa was more than just a simple worker at the post office. She had a miraculous gift of writing stories for children. She never revealed her talent to anybody nor did she ever speak about it. She was so afraid of rejection especially from those parents who had children and would put her down as a writer because she didn’t have a family, that she never went ahead to publish any of her amazing works. This disempowering belief held her back all her life. Until now.

The only person Lisa confessed about her gift was Tim. Knowing that he’s on a quicker transit through life due to his illness provided the necessary safety net for her to confine in him. And so she did. She even showed her collection of creative writing to Tim and allowed him to read out loud a couple of her stories.

“These are amazing Lisa. You have to publish them. Children will devour these adventures. They will absolutely adore the places you’re taking them” said Tim after reading the stories. This is when Lisa grabbed the papers out of his hands and told him, she would never want to talk about this subject again.

But Tim never forgot this event and he wanted to make sure Lisa overcomes her fear and finally shares her beautiful gift with the world. That’s why he made sure he included this wish in his last message.

It was raining heavily outside the bookstore but the door couldn’t be kept closed as more and more people were coming for the reading. Five years have passed since Tim’s death and Lisa had published her third volume of children’s stories. She was looking at the crowd that gathered in front of her reading desk when a little tear made its way down her left cheek. Gratitude filled her heart as she released a murmur of happiness: “Thank you Tim. It was a blessing having you in my life”.

💎💎💎 Krisz Rokk 💎💎💎

Creative art: AI-generated image by Daniela S. via Midjourney

Originally published on the Hive blockchain at @KriszRokk.