short story #34: The Wall of Love

Amora managed to drag herself off the bed to take a look at her “wall of love”. Depression had started to rear its ugly head. She could feel it stirring deep within her chest. She could feel happiness draining out of her slowly, only to be replaced by a sickening feeling of emptiness. It was like depression had carved a void inside her.

She longed to be around her loved ones. With the advent of the coronavirus, social distancing, and an indefinite work from home order in place, it had been a while since she stepped out of her home. Initially, her home had seemed warm, cozy, and inviting. It had felt good at first, to actually stay inside her home for such an extended period of time. There was no more getting stuck in traffic, rushing to get to the office in time in the mornings, less exposure to pollution, and annoying people. But gradually, being cooped up in her house got to her. She had a constant gnawing pain inside… one that simply refused to go away.

The “wall of love” was a brilliant idea put forward by some of her best friends. They knew that the lockdown and the travel restrictions could be hard on Amora, especially when she was feeling low. So they had gathered all her friends and family and got them to sent in notes. Small notes on multi-coloured paper with a beautiful quote, a reminder of a lovely memory they had shared in the past jotted down in their own handwriting. Every single one of these notes was precious to her for they never failed to make her smile… even in the darkest of days. She ran her hand over the wall of notes in front of her, her mind racing through happy memories at a quick pace. She drank in the sight of the notes and released a deep breath that she didn’t even know she was holding. The corners of her mouth lifted up to form the first smile of the day. It wasn’t a complete cure but she felt as if her burden had reduced slightly. She no longer seemed completely void, and a slight shine returned to her eyes.

With one more glance at her happy place, she took a deep breath and got ready to face the rest of the day.

This post was written in response to Sadje’s What Do You See #43 prompt. Thank you, Sadje for hosting this challenge. The challenge is to use the picture prompt as inspiration to compose an original story, poem, or a caption.

For the visually challenged reader, the image shows a board covered with hand written messages about love.

Image courtesy: Kyle Glenn- Unsplash

Click here to read all my other short stories. 🙂

Follow me on Twitter | Instagram

© 2020 Shweta Suresh. All rights reserved.