A YEAR LATER

Stella wiped a tear as she stopped at the photo of their last birthday celebration together. He was smearing cake on her face, putting the cherry on her nose. With the blue birthday cap and the red cherry on her pointed nose, she looked like a joker. Yes, a joker, that’s how he probably considered her.

Then there was the picture of them at Niagara Falls, both shivering under the blue plastic coats. It was one of his wishes to get drenched at the falls. And she’d booked tickets for both of them. Love can be blind.

She continued turning the pages of the album. She’d got the photos printed out. Scrolling through the gallery on her phone, with its millions of photos, didn’t allow her to concentrate on the memories each of them contained. It was chaotic in there.

He didn’t realize it. That his phone was connected to the TV. And she’d read the messages. Hot, flashy, sexy messages. To her best friend. Her world had collapsed around her as she saw it. The effort she had to take to make everything feel normal even as he took her into the bed that day made her go numb now.

The Colorado Cliff was their last outing together. She’d been playful and he’d been trying to catch her. Risky manoeuvres at the edge of the cliff. A gentle push. That’s all that was needed. And he was gone. Forever.

She wasn’t a joker, she had to prove it to him. It was one year to that day today. Rest in Peace, Steve, she murmured as she shut the album and went to ready to go to the first anniversary memorial service.