Third Annual Wild Violet Writing Contest Winners (2005)

Fiction — Second Place

Heidi Bolton have currently gone back to university part time to earn her bachelor of arts in writing while working full time in advertising.

 

The Last Message
By Heidi Bolton


Sitting heavily onto the couch, Craig swallowed the bile that was threatening to rise in his throat. The screen on his mobile read: 1 new message; sender: Lara.

Lara was Craig's wife. She had been dead a year.

The message read: Hi Craig, my name is Alyssa. I have been receiving ur messages 4 awhile, and now I think I know why.

Craig shook his head. This can't be. This number is his late wife's number; he never deactivated it. He never planned to.

Blinking back the tears, Craig remembered one of the dying wishes Lara had asked of him.

"I want you to keep texting me when I am gone. Just like you did for the year we were apart and I had Jasmine. We can continue our love through text like we did then. You can tell me all about Jasmine growing up and not feel lonely."

Craig had agreed, and true to his word had been messaging his wife for a year. It had helped with the loneliness, and in some strange way he felt like she was there with him.

But now, he couldn't explain this message from a girl called Alyssa. The last message he sent to his wife was very personal, and now this. Shaken, Craig looked down as another message came through on his phone.

It read: I think we need to meet up.

And Craig agreed.



Early the next morning Craig was in a café overlooking Bondi Beach. Although it was Monday, the café was full of people grabbing their coffee fixes on their way to work. Jasmine sat on the seat next to Craig, her legs swinging. She wanted to get to the beach. It was a tease to have it in front of her and not be able to go.

Sipping his coffee, Craig thought about his late wife again. He still got a pain in his heart when he thought of her, but thankfully, it was slowly getting better. After his wife's death, Craig texted her as she requested, but he had never found her phone in his house. It had always puzzled him.

But a late message from Alyssa last night had shaken him. "The phone was sent to me in the post. It said on the note with it that I had won a competition. I don't enter competitions."

Had his wife sent this lady her phone? If so, why? Why was his wife tying him to this unknown woman?

Craig helped Jasmine sip her apple juice. The whole situation was bizarre, but he had to meet Alyssa now. He had to know why his wife wanted him to meet her. He wanted to know what her last message to him was.

The door to the coffee shop opened and a beautiful, young woman entered. She had long blonde hair and wide blue eyes. She was petite and looked as nervous as Craig felt. Looking around, her eyes eventually settled on him. He felt a flip in his stomach as she made her way over.

"Hi." She said softly, putting her hand out to him. "I'm Alyssa."

Craig nodded, "It's nice to meet you."

Alyssa sat opposite him in the booth and ordered a coffee. She looked down at Jasmine and a smile lit her entire face. "And you must be Jasmine."

Jasmine clambered out of the booth and teetered over to Alyssa. It looked like they had an instant bond. As Craig watched the two of them giggling together, he felt a pang of sadness. All he wanted for his daughter was to have a mother.

Alyssa looked up at Craig suddenly, the sadness in her eyes mirroring his.

"I am sorry if I seemed rude at first." Craig stuttered. "I was…I was very shocked. The messages were meant for my wife, so you can imagine my surprise."

Alyssa nodded slowly. "That's fine. I can imagine I shocked you with my sudden message. I am sorry it took so long to tell you that you weren't texting who you thought you were." Alyssa looked down and played with a paper napkin between her fingers. "You see, until that day, I didn't know who you were trying to text. I knew it wasn't me obviously, but I didn't realize it was…her. I didn't say anything because…"

Her face turned a deep pink as she stammered, "I guess I was lonely." Looking down at Jasmine, Alyssa continued. "I loved hearing about your daughter growing up, it made me smile to think of her. I'm sorry."

When she looked up she had big fat tears in her eyes. Craig's heart went out to her.


 

home | contest winners 2005