It takes only a few minutes of being around them and their infectious smiles to forget about everything else, to stop listening to the voices in my head. Oh, how I adore them. I'm glad they exist.

I wish they'd talk to me every minute of every day.

Three weeks of not being able to channelize my mental faculties into something productive. I knew I was given to the occasional daydream or two, but of all the voices in my head, his is the loudest and the most convincing. I've been giving in, every time, listening wordlessly.

A few hundred photographs. I looked at them, one by one, permitting every little detail to find itself a permanent place in my head. Soon, my field of vision was full of vivid colours and distorted shapes. I relived every little memory I could recollect. Photograph after photograph swam in front of my eyes, each one bringing back a flood of memories. Recent memories. I blinked furiously to suppress the tears that were long overdue. I knew that it would never, ever be the same.

***

"How long do you think you'll carry on like this?"

It was one of the several questions she asked me. Her voice was definitely distorted over the phone. But I knew that tone. It was the one I always use when I want to drill sense into her. She was trying to do the same thing to me, because I needed it.

I couldn't answer.