Airmail letters

An old cardboard box lay in her lap. Its bright cigar labels faded and torn, the once pungent aroma of tobacco but a faint afterthought.

Nestled inside, among pressed flowers and torn movie stubs, rests two letters bearing stamps from an exotic country she would never visit.

Brushing her fingertips across his child-like script, her hand trembled as she lifted his letter from the box. Beneath, a second addressed in stoic block type. One declaring his love, the other mourning his death.

She had to be satisfied with the first, because she still couldn’t bear to read the second.

The 100 Word Challenge, a writing prompt created by Velvet Verbosity, takes a single theme to tell a story in only 100 words ~ no more, no less. This week’s theme is ‘Satisfied.’