.

.

.

.

Not available.

.

At the tone,

.

Please

P l e a s e 

Please. 

.

Record your message.

.

.

.

.

Hello?

.

.

.

.

I’m still here.

.

.

.

.

It’s been a while.

.

55 days,

1320 hours,

79200 minutes, 

still ticking on.

.

Since you’ve gone.

.

.

.

.

How have you been?

.

.

.

I’ve been doing well.

.

Thanks for asking. 

.

.

The weather has been nice.

Yours too. 

.

Oh, well, I still have your weather on my app. 

I check it every now and then.

88 degrees.

Sunny.

Is it ever cloudy over there? 

.

.

.

.

.

I still think about you,

when I’m alone, 

when I’m with friends, 

when I see others together. 

. 

.

When I look at the stars, 

The moon, 

The sun. 

.

.

How you would point them out to me.

Hold my hand 

Three pulses: 

I 

Love

You

.

.

.

When I look at the stars, 

I think about how cheesy you are

How I hate romances 

But you’re a

hopeless romantic

and

.

You love clichés,

meanings from the meaningless.

.

.

.

I wonder if you are thinking about me 

still. 

.

.

I got your package the other day.

.

I opened it.

Full of voodoo love 

potions 

.

just kidding

.

.

A jar of oranges,

a wrinkled box of chocolates,

a bottle of iron pills

.

A note. 

.

.

.

I read it. 

.

It was sweet. 

. 

I pressed my fingers

into the pen marks,

felt for the dents

knowing your hand dealt them.

.

distance makes the heart grow fonder.

.

distance

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Disconnected yet connected

.

I just wanted 

to

.

tell you

.

.

.

I

.

You have reached the time limit for this voicemail. Press 1 to continue recording. If you are finished recording, you may end the call or press 2.

A version of this piece appeared in the Monday, Sept. 13, 2021, e-print edition. Contact Bianca de Ayala at [email protected].