Unforgettable That.... Little Red Box

The small red box on my desk immediately
caught my attention. Between a stack of
unmanageable files and the desktop, the red
box stood out. My hand immediately took
hold of it and kept it inside a coat pocket.
Four hours of typing codes and we broke
for lunch. I pretended to spend an extra
minute or two at the system, making sure my hungry colleagues all went away to the cafeteria.
Then, having made sure I would
not be noticed, I rushed out of the floor to
the washroom, the red box still in my pocket.

I locked myself up in the washroom cubicle, holding on to the box tightly. I didn't have the courage to open it though.

A quick thought crossed my mind, then
vanished. I thought of flushing the box down the toilet for a second, then decided against it.

If the box contained my demons, I had to
face them myself.

I shut the commode with the plastic cover
and sat down on it, contemplating the worst
case scenario if I opened the box. I could
not think of anything worse than what had
already happened.

I opened the box, gingerly, with tentative
fingers, but I opened it nevertheless.

~ ~ ~ Seven Months Ago ~ ~ ~
"Baby, I love you more than anyone else in
this world," she shouted from near the cliff.
I kept walking.

"You cannot leave me alone here! I love you.
Please listen to me," she kept shouting.


I continued to walk away from her, leaving
her alone at the edge of the cliff.

I never wanted to marry that woman. She was good time-pass, that's all. How could I marry a girl like her, small town type, who couldn't even speak fluent English!

"Baby, I am going to jump from here and
kill myself if you don't stop," she cried out in desperation.

I continued to walk away, unmindful of her feelings and pain. She would be fine I
thought. After all, who dies a virgin
anyway?


"Bye bye love, this is what you always
wanted," I heard her shout out.

By the time
I could realise anything and turn around,
she was gone.

I panicked. I ran back to the edge, hoping
she had been only been joking. I searched for
her around that place, but I found nothing.

Among the stones I found a little red box. I
opened it to find a 'mangalsutra' inside it....