Whitney Writes…

It had been a long time since she had visited. She worried that it had been too long. What had the words her mother had always said? It was never too late to make amends. But she wondered if this time, she were indeed too late. Sliding the car into park, her nerves began to nibble away at her insides. What would she say? What could she say? But she had to say something. She could not just turn up after all these years and say nothing.

It was a bright and sunny day. The sky a brilliant blue, with spatterings of lacey white clouds spotted about. The sun was a brilliant white gem, hanging high in the sky. A gentle, cool breeze blew through the tree branches, sending the golden leaves dancing and a few dancing to the ground.

Reaching to the passenger seat, she scooped up the small bouquet of purple flowers. Clutching the forget-me-nots, she pulled herself out of the car. She raised her free hand to shield her eyes from the bright sun and to get her bearings.

The grass was damp, the wetness seeping through the light fabric of her sneakers. The rubber soles making soft squelching sounds as she walked. It took only a few moments for her to reach the stone, and she bent before it. Her fingers traced the name of her friend, etched into the granite surface. The year of the date of her death listed below seemed a lifetime ago. To the point where she nearly no longer felt real. That perhaps her friend had been a figment of her imagination, conjured from the depths of her own imagination in her loneliness.

But alas, no, conjured friends did not receive real tombstones.

Sitting back on her heels, she lay the small bouquet of Forget-Me-Nots down upon the footer of her friend’s tombstone.

“I am sorry I have not been to visit sooner,” she said quietly into the breeze. “No matter the span of time, I promise I have not forgotten you. I could never forget you, Carolyn.”

INKTOBER 2022, PROMPT #12: FORGET