Grief
Chana stood before Nina’s grave, unmoving, though far from unmoved. She had come every day since watching Nina’s casket being lowered into the empty, forlorn hole that would contain her body, if not her soul. Three hundred sixty-five days. All the time Nina had given her permission to come. Chana had counted each, lived each with the pain that didn’t diminish. She would not return.
An ocean of grief, contained in a single, salty teardrop, ran down her cheek before falling onto the fresh sod covering the grave. Nina wasn’t here. Chana knew that. Yet the pain drew her inexorably back, as she wished reality would dissolve and she could talk to her wife one more time.
Nina had received the terminal cancer diagnosis a month before their planned wedding. She had called it off, not wanting to burden Chana. Chana didn’t take no for an answer, moving the wedding up by two weeks. They had shared a lifetime of love in the few, precious months left to them.
Chana looked up at the blue sky above her but saw only the clouds floating across its expanse. Despite her pain, she turned and walked from the grave, keeping her promise to Nina. Today she would fly with her brother Sam to follow the cherry blossoms as they opened across Japan, visiting temples and sampling the cuisine—Nina’s dream honeymoon. Sam, who had stood silently behind her placed an arm around her shoulder as they slowly made their way to the waiting taxi.
The Oxford Languages dictionary defines a triptych as “a set of three associated artistic, literary, or musical works intended to be appreciated together.” I know my use of the term stretches the definition a bit, given that what I present can be seen as one story. However, it is built on three themes. I decided I could get away with it.
Kim Smyth provided the prompt: grief, healing, recovery. Instead of writing it under a single title, I separated out the phases into three stories, each of which could stand on its own, but which come together, I hope, into a harmonious whole. I won’t lie. I cried as I wrote them.
I also decided to publish them over three consecutive Tuesdays, adding one piece of the triptych each week. I hope they somehow speak to you.
Thank you for supporting my writing. Whether you have bought me a coffee, shared Fiction in 50, provided a prompt, left a comment, or anonymously read my stories, I appreciate every one of you!
I feel Yesterday's Ghosts and today's Grief stories go together as two of the three triptych. Both dealing with the loss of a loved one too soon and their way of moving through the grief. Also the underlying theme of same gender love. I look forward to your stories.
I know I'll always carry the love of those I've lost inside my heart, in a little room that I hold dear. The grief still, after many years, comes unbidden as part of a random thought but I'd never give up those memories just to ease the pain of loss. A beautiful story filled with love.