Void Thoughts

At 73, Sharath thought he had experienced every shade of life, leaving nothing left to excite him. He had always been the kind of man others would describe as calm and composed, someone who seemed unshaken by the world.

But today, sitting beside Jaya, he felt anything but calm. Excitement fluttered through him like he was a young man again. Proposing to her, after all these years of friendship and quiet companionship, took a kind of courage he hadn’t felt in decades. And when she said yes, he felt almost foolishly youthful, as if life had surprised him with a new beginning he’d never imagined.

He looked at her, noticing the delicate lines at the corners of her eyes, softened by the glow of the setting sun. They sat in comfortable silence, hand in hand, watching the sky fade into shades of pink and orange. The warmth of her hand, the gentle rhythm of her breathing beside him—it all felt so perfectly right.

In that moment, he thought back to the first time they had met 62 years ago, when she was the new student in his sixth-grade class. They became friends quickly, sharing an easy bond, but after school, life took them in separate directions. Running into her again a few months ago at his granddaughter’s annual school performance had been beyond his wildest imagination. Rekindling their friendship had felt as natural as it had when they were 11. She had been a spark of life back then, and somehow, even now, she made him feel braver, more alive.

Holding her hand and watching the sunset felt like the perfect start to a new chapter—a chapter neither of them had expected but both were grateful to embrace.

© Vinitha Dileep

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This piece is written in response to the two hundredth and twenty-fourth edition of Fiction Monday inspired by the word prompt – BRAVE and the below picture prompt hosted by yours truly. Do join in if you have a tale to tell.

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