What if sorrow is not just a feeling, but a distortion of reality?
Could the mind play the tricks so convincing that it convinces us that something impossible is just in front of our eyes? Kelly never thought she would be forced to face this question.
It has been two years since her husband Jeremy died tragically in a traffic accident, and she learned to live with sorrow, absence and the scary silence he left. But nothing, nothing could prepare her for the moment she heard his voice.
The voice she recognized as her husband – coming from her daughter’s bedroom. It was a moment to question everything she thought she knew about life, death and love.
“The mind is deceived by grief, but this? It really happened.”
Kelly had just heard the voice of her late husband coming from her daughter’s room, and she immediately recognized it. The spine ran down cooling. Two years have passed since Jeremy’s tragic death, but now who or what did he speak in his voice? Her steps retreated as they move towards the sound.
My name is Kelly. I am thirty years old and my life was an emotional roller coaster of love and loss.
Two years ago my husband, Jeremy, tragically died in a traffic accident. At that time, Sophia, our daughter, was just eight months.
The moment it all happened, it looks as if it was just yesterday.
“Miss Kelly?” The voice on the phone was calm, professional. “This is Reynolds officer …”
“Yes?” I replied and tried to calm down.
“There has been an accident. Your husband …”
“No,” I whispered, and my heart dropped. “No, please no.”
They told me it was a bad accident – so bad that I shouldn’t see his body. I never had a chance to say goodbye. The coffin was closed at his funeral, and that was his end.
But then something special happened two days ago. It started like an ordinary afternoon. I put Sophii on a nap and flicked on the couch and read the book in the silence of the house.
Until I heard.
Unmistakable sound of window closure. My heart raced and then I heard it.
Jeremy’s voice.
“I love you forever.”
I stiffened, my breath caught in my throat. My ears rang.
“Jeremy?” I whispered in disbelief. “Honey, are you?” But no, he was gone. That couldn’t be real.
But then I heard it again.
“I love you forever.”
It came from Sophie’s room.
Could Jeremy be alive?
I rushed to Sophie’s door.
The room looked like I left it. There are no windows in the corners, no strange shadows that lurk, nothing in place. But then I heard it again.
“I love you forever.”
My heart stopped.
“Jeremy?” My voice cracked by despair. “Is it some cruel joke? Please … I can’t … I just can’t.”
I ran my fingers along the window. It was closed and locked. Outside she leaned on a glass of a small branch and her impact broke the panel.
“Dade,” Sophia murmured in sleep. My heart broke again.
And then it hit me.
Bear.
I fell on my knees next to her crib and trembled my hands as I reached for her. I pressed the button on the bear.
“I love you forever.”
I sat there and stared at the bear as if he were alive.
I didn’t remember buying it. Did Sophia receive it from someone else?
Then it was shining on me.
I held the bear tighter. “Did you know that this thing plays Jeremy’s voice?”
At the other end of the line was silence.
Then the soft, almost hesitant voice replied. “Oh … did it finally play?”
My stomach twisted. “Finally? What do you mean by finally?”
Gloria sighed. “I wondered when you hear it.”
I sat down more straight and turned the anger. “Gloria. What did you do?”
“Kelly, please,” she waved her voice. “Let me explain it …”
“Explain what?” I gave up, my voice rose. “Explain why you thought it was fine … …”
I couldn’t finish the sentence.
Gloria cleaned her neck. “After Jeremy died, I was still thinking about how Sophia would never hear his voice. So I took a recording from your wedding video. Do you remember his promises?”
My throat was tightening.
“I love you forever,” Gloria whispered.
My heart hurts.
“I remember,” I suffocated. “He worked on these promises for weeks. He wanted them to be perfect.”
Gloria gripped her hands together. “I had it sewn to the bear before the birthday of Sophie. I wanted him to have his piece. He always knew he was with her.”
“I miss it very much,” I sobbed, tears running down my face. “Every day.”
“I know,” Gloria whispered, stroking my hair. “He would be so proud of you, Kelly. As proud of how you raise Sophia.”
I didn’t know what to say.
I wasn’t angry. I wasn’t relieved. I was just stunned.
That night I sat in the room of Sophie and watched her sleep.
Last time I pressed the bear and again I filled Jeremy’s well -known voice and filled my heart.
“I love you forever.”
I missed him.
Sophia mixed and her eyes opened. “Mom?”
“Hey, girl,” I whispered, stroking her face.
“Bear?” She asked and reached for Teddy.
“That’s your dad,” I said, and my voice thick tears. “He loves you too much.”
“Dada?” She looked at the bear and then returned to me.
“Yes, sweetheart. That’s a dada.”
She hugged the bear and closed her eyes. “Love Dada.”
I thought I lost everything, but now, in the arms of Sophie, its part was still here.
Sadness still persisted. It would always.
But for the first time in a long time I did not feel so alone.
In the end, Kelly realized that even if her grief frowned her ability to fully recover, Jeremy would always remain a piece of Jeremy. Through the bear, her daughter, and the voice playing his words, she found a way to reconnect to him, though an unexpected and bitter way. The sadness she had felt would never completely disappear, but for the first time in a long time she hadn’t felt alone. It was a little comfort, but it was enough to help her move forward and bring Jeremy’s love for her when she raised her daughter. Life took so much from her, but also gave her the power to continue, with the monument of his love as the main light.