Little Duck

It's the universe again playing with her feeling.

When she comes across an old message from him. A very old one. The one that has slipped out of her memory completely.  But there it is, years later, and she reads it again.

He'd said she resembled one of his favorite character of a book. A little girl named after a flower. He'd said she and the little girl from the book shared some similar interests and even traits. But when the little girl's name was after a flower, her character had a funny nickname "Little Duck".

She rememberes feeling both happy and dissatisfied by his opinion. Happy because he'd compared her to a very lovable character. Dissatisfied because she'd wanted to be compared to a more matured character instead of a little girl. But she realises now, they were just two kids obsessing over the same books.

And after all those years, the last sentences of the message hit her differently. That Little Duck in the book died in the end. And he'd said "But I don't want you to die like the girl in the story."

Now she laughs. She knows it must have been a flattering messages for her younger self. But it's an irony for her now.

Because sometimes dying isn't as simple as he reads from the book.

She wants to tell him now that his wish had been a void. The little duck's been dead. Years ago. Not too long after they'd decided to take a different path, to leave all of their favorite books and playlists behind.