The End Of Eternity

“...the girl I once loved?”

Greg’s mind melted as he uttered the last word into his cellphone. He didn’t know what to say. He could feel the hurt in her soft calm voice. He wanted to bring her close, to wrap his arms around her body, to whisper soft words into her ear, to tell her she always had a space in his heart. All he could do was pull the phone closer and whisper…

“Oh dear, you know you are more than that.” He began, trying to steer himself into a comfortable spot.

“Am I?” She sounded hurt. Perhaps she thought he was lying. Was he? He walked to a side of the room and sat on a chair. It couldn’t have been more than a few seconds but it felt like eternity. He had only known her for a few months and had never even seen her but he he felt like she had been a part of him for a long time.

“What do you mean?” He asked, his mind working out different scenarios. He knew she only wanted assurances. She wanted to be sure that he still cared.

“You know what I mean…” Her voice came through the speakers. It was always like this. In other matters she would be the one droning on and on about the many things in her life. She always enjoyed talking to him. But when she felt he didn’t care, when she felt abandoned, she was always calm, using a soft voice and measuring everyone he said. She was like a stranded traveller in a desert eager for a drop of water but yet suspecting the water might be poisoned.

“Greg,” he muttered to himself, “she only wants to be sure.” he heaved a sigh and shifted the phone to the other ear. “I care a lot about you and you know it. It’s just that I get busy a lot.” Busy. He thought of the happenings of the previous night. He was busy in bed with another girl. I’m just a man, he muttered to himself trying to deal with the guilt.

“Greg, do you love me?”

Silence

Greg’s mind was racing. “What is love?” He asked himself. He cared for her. He never wanted to hurt her. wasn’t that love? But within him, he knew what she was asking and he knew the truth. There was a kind of love she was asking about. A love that could only be given to one girl at a time. He now had a girlfriend. And she…

She was a girl he once loved.

“Are you there?” He asked, eager to end the conversation.

“Yes. I was waiting for you.” she replied.

His mind screamed, “You’re a girl I was once in love with but I have a girlfriend now. But deep inside of me, I will always love you.” Instead, he whispered into the phone: “I love you and I’ll love you from now till the end of eternity.”

She smiled and then told him about her day…