unseen part 3

Maggie’s gorgeous smile. Her big front teeth and ears that stuck out just a bit too much on the tops. Her freckles, her spirit, her love.

He clutched the can and chewed his lip, biting back the tears, fighting the sweat and pain.

Two towns later he found a place to develop the film and he sat outside on a weather-worn bench, counting down the hour in his mind. The street was like a hundred he’d seen; people milling about under the mid-morning sky, small storefronts crowded together, their colorful awnings shading the sidewalk.

It seemed nice, yet like every other place: empty without her.

When time was up, Jake went back inside, ducking beneath the bells that jingled on the door. He thanked the clerk and held the envelope tight in his hand.

It sat on the passenger's seat as he drove away, unopened, the photos unseen.

It leaned up against the ketchup bottle at the diner as Jake ate his burger, the pictures still a mystery.

Jake stared at the packet as he sipped his coffee, dragging up the will to set the images free. He’d been running from them for so long, from the ache of whatever was inside, he was terrified now to open it. Afraid he would break down when he saw her face, that he would scream at the world around him when her ghost returned, crisp and beautiful, solid in his hands.

He’d been running too long. He was tired.

Jake took a breath and opened the envelope, tipping it over to let the photographs spill out onto the tabletop.

When he looked down, his eyes blurred behind thick tears. Every photo was of him. Every snapshot was a random moment he’d shared with Maggie, but all from her point of view; all an angle of him. His smile, his crooked nose, his shaggy blond hair, his hands, his lips. It was all him.

For so long, he’d been holding onto her, and all along she’d been holding onto him.

End here

I'll delete your number out my phone, it will hurt, it will hurt, whatever

Sit alone inside this house, right here, right now, forever

But baby, when you're with somebody else, are you thinking of me?

So, I met this girl last night

She looked like you and it fucked me up, it's fucking me up

I'm wondering

Does the feeling of touching you, fucking you ever go away?

So, I'm sitting next to this new girl and it just don't feel the same

Now I need to know

Will it ever feel the same?