Fallen

• Belinda Yehson, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2009

Fallen

“If you love it, let it go. If it returns to you, cherish it.
And if not, then it was never ever truly yours.”

The net of stars above them blinked into existence as night advanced. He stood there beside her, contemplating the constellations. The zephyr made him tingle, and even the moon that hung above jogged the bittersweet memories that they’d shared thus far. It made him reflect back to when they first met, back to when everything was still perfect.

All those years, they promised each other to never part, yet all the same, hearts had been broken. He knew something, a secret that would have been better off unknown. He knew what was happening to her, to them. And time after time, a tinge of regret would lance his heart, for he couldn’t do anything to ameliorate her sufferings. Their feelings worked akin to a chain reaction, and it hurt him so to see her abide such pain.

Faith was slowly succumbing to despair. Like the missing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, everything was, little by little, returning to square one. Yet the love they had for each other could never be replaced. Ever! It was not only his lips that she’d kissed, but also his soul.

In hope of watching the sunrise with her one last time, he had been hitherto fighting back his drowsiness. Through the almost undying hours of the night, he kept telling himself that this would be the last time. He knew it was time for her to rest in peace, time for him to let go.

At the thought of losing her, a single teardrop trickled down his cheekbone, and his grip on the bouquet of white lilies only tightened. Why? Why did she have to leave in such haste? He opened his eyes once more to stare stone-faced down at her grave. Her death had a scar so deep, one that would remain with him forevermore.

He found her very hard to forget. Ever since the mishap, her smiles and cries, compliments and profanities had not yet ceased to haunt him. Everything seemed to remind him of her. Everything! In his world, love had no limits, no end in trust and no fading of hope. There was nothing love couldn’t outlast and, when all else was lost, it would still stand. Even so, it was a nature so heartless.

Love. How could this one little word mean so much? Such a beautiful sensation, yet why does it come with consequences so severe? To have fallen in love, is seemingly to fall into its deathtrap. And it is only the victims of this game who are bound to truly understand the aftermath.

Belinda Yehson
Canley Vale High School
Year 9