"Depression" by Jess Kachine Hickman

Sive gazed at a photograph she held in her hand. A tear escaped from the corner of her sapphire blue eye. She quickly brushed it away.

The young man in the photo was handsome. Long dark hair framed his slightly tan face. His gentle brown eyes smiled softly even though they held a hint of tiredness and sadness. A dark moustache and goatee grew around his soft lips. His broad shoulders held a power that contrasted his gentle face. He was one who had seen several fights and years of teasing, yet underneath he remained gentle and loving, a rare gem in an unsure world.

Her fingers strayed over the picture, taken nearly six months before when she had last seen him in person. More tears of loneliness fell from Sive’s eyes. She made no move to dry them.

"My sweet Garret," she whispered to no one. Sive was alone in her room. All the other occupants of the house were asleep.

She swallowed hard. The loneliness had become more unbearable over the last few days. Now, as she listened to the winds blowing snow around the house, a feeling of complete helplessness rose. She would probably never see him, her lover, best friend, and someday husband, again. He wasn’t welcome here, and she was even less welcome there.

Sive absentmindedly rubbed the soft fabric of the red flannel shirt she wore. It was three sizes too big but Garret had given it to her for comfort the day she left last time they were together. It once smelt like him, but that warm scent faded away, much like her happiness had.

Sive looked at the photo again through tear blurred eyes before tacking it once again to the wall. She curled into a ball, tears dampening her pillow and a few stray wisps of her dark hair. She held a stuffed cat close to her chest, wishing it was Garret she was cuddling with. She closed her wet eyes, remembering the pure joy she felt every time he had held her, wrapping his strong but so gentle arms around her, allowing her to rest her head on his chest. A tender kiss or two often accompanied the embrace. A few times he had even stroked the soft skin of her cheek, looked into her eyes, and told her how beautiful she was, causing her to blush and become shy, before kissing her and holding her.

All of that was a whole world away now, lost to vast distances. Sive squeezed her eyes closed tighter as tears poured forth. She held her cat tighter, searching for the slightest bit of comfort to ease the pain of her broken heart. None was to be found.

Lonely tears continued to fall uncontrolled as she drifted into a pained sleep.