MY ORPHAN BRIDE

I PROMISE YOU

THIRD PERSON

In a well furnished room, a 67-year-old man runs his agile fingers across a photograph of a woman wrapped in her husband's embrace who is holding her little daughter. The family of three seems so happy, contrary to what the old man is currently feeling. He must have loved the people in the photograph so dearly that all he can do now is to shed tears reminiscing about the past. Their memories must have been unbearably haunting him for his entire lifetime.

Even with the pain intact, he smiles, wiping away his tears of bitterness. He started to flip the pages of the photo album one by one.

'Savannah, my little one....' he sighs and then continues his conversation with the person in the photograph. 'I finally found her.'

'I finally found your precious gem.....and I am so sorry my dear Savannah...that...that it took me this long to find her.'

'I can never forgive myself for whatever she has been enduring.' He began to cough as the oration began to turn more intense. 'I am so...rry! I won't let her suffer anymore.'

'I am sorry, Savannah!'.

-----

"Savannah, look at this photograph." He says and then opens a brown envelope with his trembling hands. The envelope had been there on his side table since the day before.

"Isn't she beautiful? She...has you..r eyes!"

....

"You would have loved her so much, my little one." He cries as he concentrates more on the girl in the new photograph. She is a rare beauty, even more precious than the black diamond. Her brown curls cascading down her shoulders, those piercing brown eyes- she resembled her mother so much. She was a splitting image of Savannah.

'Meet your Alice, Savannah. I know...you would never have let her suffer if you were alive.' 'You must also know that I tried my best to search for your daughter. I know I have failed you..but I promise, I promise to make everything all right now.'

'I promise to give her the happiness she deserves. Starting today, she is my responsibility. I promise you, my dear Savannah, that I will take care of her like my very own.'

"I pro...mi..se you!"

He started to cough repeatedly, to ease the ache in his chest. In a while, he turns breathless. He tries to calm himself down but the recent conversation with the person in the photograph proved to be the cause of his misery. He hurriedly presses a button, an emergency alarm, before handling himself to the darkness. He falls down on the floor as he loses consciousness.

The moment he opens his eyes, he scrunches his nose because he knows better where he was. And as expected, he was hospitalized for not taking care of his deteriorating health. He was well aware of his condition, yet he was pressuring himself to continue with that conversation. He was so indulged in talking with Savannah that he forgot that his agile body would give up on him anytime. Or maybe he knew his condition all too well that all he intended to do was to bring Alice home as soon as possible.

"I am going to take her home." He took a mental note before falling into his slumber once more.