My Last Text

My Last Text

WRITING PROMPT - Read your last text and make it the first sentence of your story.

BONUS CHALLENGE - Add the person’s response to the story. If no response, describe how that makes you feel.

My last text was: “Please put my cheese away.”  I sent it to Ben. He didn’t text back, but he did put the cheese away.

Here’s the story I came up with from that text: 

“Please put my cheese away.” were the words she heard wafting up the steps from the laundry room.

I got up from my comfy chair, moving two dogs and a cat so I could stand. I walked into the kitchen and looked around. What was I here for again?

One of the worst side effects of this illness was that I forget things. I can’t remember dates, tasks, words, and even where things belong.

As I stood there looking around the room, a tear traveled down my cheek and landed on my shirt, leaving a wet trail behind.

Is this what my life has become now?

Will I ever remember again?

She walked up the steps and saw me standing there with a face full of tears and a confused look. I heard her sigh as she walked over to the counter, picked up the cheese, and placed it in the refrigerator like she asked me to do.

While I was glad that she saved the cheese, I felt so ashamed that I couldn’t even remember the words that were spoken to me just minutes before.

She walked over to me, hugged me tightly and said, “Mom, the cheese is safe now!”

I couldn’t help but smile at her words, but I was not feeling even a wee bit jovial at this moment.

I needed to find a way to focus a little more and to improve my memory.

I was getting tired of finding my belongings in spaces they shouldn’t be. Yesterday I found the milk inside the oven. This had to stop before it became dangerous or life-threatening!

I watched my grandfather die of Alzheimer’s, and I know what it’s like to see a family member struggling to remember. I know firsthand how heartbreaking that could be. There’s no way I would want to put my family through that again.

I want to scream at the unfairness of the situation. I want to make it go away before I disappear completely.

My heart breaks every time I see the pity or the fear in the eyes.

If only there were a cure for my illness.

If only my memory would come back.

If only I was the same person, I was before all of this started.

If only I wasn’t so needy.

If only…

If only…

If only I remembered to put the damn cheese away!