It was a thing that people warned you about – a thing that made you think if your mind finally began to burst under the weight of grief.
But Kelly didn’t imagine it. Couldn’t be. The voice was too real, too well -known, too full of warmth. It was Jeremy’s voice that came from the depths of the darkness in their house. For the last two years, she had spent an effort to accept that he was gone, trying to fill the void in her heart by his absence.
But this? That was something she couldn’t explain. And for the first time in months, Kelly felt a rush of hope and terror that collided in it. Because if it were real, then there was something in her house that should not be – and had to find out what it was before it torn her.
Sadness can often blur the boundaries between reality and illusion, but sometimes they feel more tangible than we expect.
Kelly knew the sound of her husband’s voice and her own. She could remember every inflection, every warmth in his tone. Yet, just a moment ago, she heard it – like a day – from her daughter’s room.
Her heart raced. Jeremy was gone for two years.
So who – or what – spoke to his voice?
Kelly took a deep breath and entered the room … and stiffened.
Life immediately torn
Kelly’s life was a vortex of love and devastating losses.
Two years ago she was pregnant eight months and painted fine flowers in the kindergarten of the unborn daughters and imagined their future together.
Then the phone rang.
“Miss Kelly, this is Reynolds officer …”
Her hand instinctively pushed her belly as her heart sank. “No, no, please no.”
“There was an accident … Your husband …”
They honestly strangled the strangled sobs. Hardly registered the rest of the conversation – only fragments of horror: Jeremy. Automobile crash. Immediate death. No chance to say goodbye.
She never saw his body – just a closed coffin on the funeral, full of murmur “was too young” and “I’m so sorry for your loss.”
But nothing could bring him back.
And now, two years later, when Kelly picked up her daughter Sophia, the emptiness was still gnawing on her.
Then she heard him in the dead silence of his home.
The voice of the past
It started with a soft click.
Closing the window? Maybe just the wind.
But then the words came:
“I love you forever.”
Kelly’s breath grabbed her chest. Her whole body stiffened.
The voice was unmistakable. He was Jeremy.
Not memory. It is not a figment of its imagination. It was real.
“Jeremy?” She whispered in silence, but only responded to her echo.
And then it came again.
“I love you forever.”
The words came from Sophie’s room.
Kelly’s heart raced as she jumped out of the couch and knocked her book. Her legs moved faster than her mind could catch up.
Was anyone in the room? She lost her common sense?
Or … could Jeremy be alive?
She opened the door.
Revelation of kindergarten
Sophia lay quickly in her crib, small hands curled around the teddy bear. The soft glow of the night light cast a golden shade on her calm face.
The room was still.
And then – again – words.
“I love you forever.”
Kelly’s stomach dropped. It didn’t imagine it.
When she scanned the room, tears fit in her eyes. The window was closed and locked. The closet was empty. No shadows.
Then Sophia woke up and murmured in her sleep.
“Dade.”
Kelly’s breath grabbed her throat.
Her look fell on the teddy bear.
It was a simple toy, nothing unusual. But something about it felt … others.
Kelly reached out with the trembling hands and squeezed her belly.
“I love you forever.”
The realization hit her as a blow.
Voice … came from the bear.
A call that has changed everything
Kelly sat on the couch and clutched the bear firmly, her joints furious.
She had no memory to buy it.
Who gave it to Sophia?
Then it was shining on her.
Second birthday Sophie. Just last week.
“Look what your grandmother got you!” Her father -in -law said and handed Sophia bears along with a lot of other gifts.
Kelly’s stomach twisted. She grabbed the phone and turned out a son -in -law.
Gloria replied to the second ring. “Kelly, sweetheart, is everything all right?”
Kelly did not waste time with pleasure. “Did you know that this thing plays Jeremy’s voice?”
Silence.
Then, after a break, Gloria replied, “Oh … did it finally play?”
Kelly’s grip was tightened. “Finally? What do you mean, finally?”
Gloria sighed. “I wondered when you hear it.”
Unfinished
An hour later, Gloria arrived and looked restless. She sat opposite Kelly, her hands folded in her lap.
“I’m just … I thought it would help,” she said quietly.
“Help Who?” Kelly demanded, emotions strong in her voice.
Gloria took a deep breath. “Sophie. And you.”
Kelly stared at her and waited.
“Every time Sophia asks about her father … every time I see you try to explain … it breaks my heart,” Gloria whispered.
Kelly’s throat was tightened.
“And don’t you think it breaks my heart?” Kelly’s voice cracked. “To hear his voice, suddenly when I thought I would never hear it again?”
Gloria swallowed hard. “After Jeremy went through, I kept thinking … never knows the voice of my father. So I took a clip from your wedding video. His promises.”
Kelly froze.
“I love you forever,” Gloria whispered.
Words felt like a blow.
Kelly squeezed her eyes closed.
“He had been practicing these promises for weeks,” she murmured, shaking her voice. “He said he must be perfect.”
Gloria nodded and tears in her eyes. “I just wanted him to have his piece. So she would know she’s always with her.”
Kelly swallowed hard. “Gloria, you should have told me.”
Gloria blinked her tears. “I know. I’m just … didn’t want to upset you.”
Kelly laughed bitterly. “Upset me? I thought I was losing my mind. For a moment I thought he was -“
“Alive?” Gloria ended gently.
Kelly discharged a shaking breath.
Gloria reached at hand. “He would be so proud of you, Kelly. As proud of how you raise her.”
A lump was formed in Kelly’s neck. She didn’t know what to say.
She wasn’t upset. She wasn’t relieved. She was just … stunned.
Another kind forever
That night Kelly was sitting in Sophie’s room and watching her sleep.
The bear was gently resting in his lap, wore and familiar.
She watched his fabric and felt the weight of everything she lost.
Yet a little weight was raised in her heart.
“You would love her so much,” Kelly whispered into silence. “He’s perfect, Jeremy. Just perfect.”
She squeezed the bear again.
“I love you forever.”
A tear slipped down her face.
Sophia mixed and her eyes opened. “Mom?”
“Hey, girl,” Kelly whispered, gently smoking her hair.
“Bear?”
Kelly handed it to her.
Jeremy’s voice reopened the room.
“That’s your dad,” Kelly said, and her voice broke. “He loves you so much.”
Sophia hugged the bear firmer and her little lips formed the softest words.
“Love Dada.”
And for the first time in two years, Kelly did not feel so alone.
Because now, no matter what, Jeremy was there.
With them.
Forever.
Conclusion
At the quiet moments that followed, Kelly realized something deep: sorrows never have to disappear fully, but love will last an unexpected way. Jeremy’s voice, captured by a simple act of gift, became a bridge between the past and the present, a connection that crossed the sadness and silence that had been chasing her for so long.
When the subtle words of Sophie reflected in her heart, Kelly understood that while Jeremy was no longer physically with them, his love would always be part of their lives, which is the main power at which it matters most. He would carry him with him forever – no longer in painful absence, but in the whisper of love that never really left.