I pulled a box down from the top shelf of my closet, immediately feeling how much dust covered it upon retrieval.
"Did you find another box?" Matt asks from behind me.
I turn with it in hand, looking down at it. It was unmarked.
"Yeah, this one has no writing on it, though. I wonder what's in it." I say, sitting down on the floor of my walk-in closet.
Matt sits in front of me, putting the small box in his hands on the carpet next to him. I carefully open the flaps of the cardboard container, sneezing as dust flew into the air. What I saw made me throw the box onto the floor instantly. I cover my mouth with my hands, tears welling in my eyes.
"I thought I burned this..." I whisper, watching as Matt rummages through the contents.
He pulls out a stack of pictures and starts to leaf through them. I can tell he didn't like what he saw.
"I thought you burned these too." He says, setting the pictures down before moving to grab what else was in the box.
I watched as he pulled out a few trinkets, pieces of jewelry, and a stuffed wolf, other things my ex, Keith, had given me.
Moving my hands to grab the wolf, I flip it over in my hands, feeling how dirty the fur felt.
"Just as I was starting to forget." I sigh, setting the stuffed animal down with the rest of the items.
"Hey, we can get rid of this tonight. I'm sure that will make you feel better." Matt reassures me, quickly tossing everything into the box, but I stop him before he puts the pictures in.
I take them from him, leafing through them briefly before I came upon one picture. It was a picture of us kissing. I shred it down the middle before dumping it in the box.
"I hated that picture the moment I put it in the box." I growl, shutting the flaps of the box.
I wanted everything in here gone. The sooner it was gone, the happier I would be.
Matt notices me blankly staring at it, and he leans over the box, wrapping his arms around me.
"I know you were doing everything to forget Keith, and you couldn't have known what was in this box." He murmurs, rubbing my back before pulling away.
I sigh, wiping a stray tear that had formed in my eye. I didn't like the memories this stirred up. But I was going to forget. I had to. His memory would only drag me down, I wouldn't give him that power. Ever.