The Question (flash fiction)

Ellen couldn’t stop thinking about it. Andrea’s question was like a begging beagle. It wouldn’t leave her in peace. She had to find the answer. It felt like her life depended on it. 

Ellen met Andrea after a far-too-long workday, when the R5 lost power in the ice. They were strangers, stuck together for two and a half hours. Ellen thought of that journey often. She liked to believe the storm had been sent to personally stop her in her tracks. It was an oddly packaged, and well-timed gift.  
 
Billy’s death had turned her world darker than the train, and Andrea’s words on that cold December night were like twinkling lights in the distance. Andrea had been in that darkness too, and had found her way back to the living. She was a dear friend now, and a comfort, and Ellen would miss her. She and her cats, Fred and Ethel, were moving to Austin in the morning.
 
As they waited in the corner booth for their check, Andrea asked the question that had started Ellen’s mind racing. She said that answering it had changed her life in extraordinary ways, and she wanted to pay it forward. She asked, “What does your heart need to let go of?”
 
Ellen’s heart had let go of so much already! It let go of dreams with men’s faces. It let go of being called mom. It let go of that perfect pair of jeans that would never fit again…
 
Ellen didn’t like to be left behind, but this time, it came with a gift. What did her heart need to let go of?  She knew that the answer would be bittersweet, and that it would set her free.
 
What does your heart need to let go of?


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