Tiny Box

She wailed, like a child whose favorite teddy bear got taken away for whatever reason a toddler could never rationalize. But she was no toddler, and she could understand very clearly that it was just a tiny box. Things like those wear out over time and get broken by falls and scratches and bugs. She had it for a couple of years, and it had been functioning well until that one afternoon when it just suddenly stopped working—like a comedian who hasn’t stopped making people laugh until one day he shocks everyone for the first time after committing suicide. It was too sudden. Too abrupt. No explanations. Nothing she could think of. 

Her phone was just gone.

She had tried all means possible to get it fixed, but to no avail. And to those around her, she seemed unreasonable for acting the way she did, but she wailed.

She wailed for that tiny box that had accompanied her through those lonesome nights that she cried herself to sleep-

That had been the only thing she talked to when she couldn’t talk to anyone else-

That contained all the photos that had personal value and meaning to her-

That had all her written thoughts and feelings; her pain and sorrow-

It just had everything that she was that upon losing it, she felt that she had lost herself as well. She could no longer listen to her past recordings of sad stories and empty thoughts; she could no longer read the words formed by her mourning heart; she could no longer look back and relive everything-

But she didn’t have to relive anything.

By chance she received a new tiny box—devoid of any stain from her past. It contained nothing of her secrets and tears. And just like a blank piece of paper, it was an opportunity-

An opportunity to start anew, to save happier memories, and to forget what need not be remembered.

Until now, no one could explain what broke her precious phone, but she understood that it had to happen for her own sanity. It had to be broken to free her from the tiny box that she imprisoned herself in; to forcefully peel open her clenched fists, and let go of everything that weighed her down.

It died-

So that she would live again.