I crave the moment when I see his name appear on my iPhone. My soul awakens. His euphonic voice brings me such pleasure. It is my ecstasy. The phone rang a little past 10:30 last night. I was lying in bed, caressing the pillow, his scent still lingering on, when I saw his name.

My heart began to strike harder against my chest cavity, the sound of my heart’s thunder surely being heard miles away. I grabbed my phone with my sudoric hands and dropped it. Fear encapsulated me; I did not want the ring to stop. With my last breath in what seemed like an eternity, I grabbed my phone from the floor. “Hi, how have you been?” Those words melted my insides. How can a normal greeting draw me in?

We asked each other about our day, talked about an issue a common friend was dealing with, and talked about our weekend plans. In those few minutes, I was in heaven.

Then I awoke and realized the idiocy of it all.

©Valerie