Saying Goodbye

"You need to go out a little" he said. "You can't stay with me the whole day".

"I can. I don't want to be anywhere else but here". I told him.

He looked at me and smiled. He really did not want me to leave.

"Will you promise me something?", he asked me.

"What?", I inquired.

"That you will love me no matter what. That even when I grow old, start losing my memory and appear haggard & wilted compared to the young ones, you will still love me". I could feel that he was scared. My heart ached for him.

"I promise to be by your side for as long as I shall live", I assured him.

He sighed.

"I need another promise", he said, looking away from me.

"What now?", I said, in a mock-irritated tone.

"If I .... cease to function one day,.." he said carefully picking his words, "you will find someone else. You will not grieve over me. And you will give away parts of my body to those who need them. So that I can live another life through them".

I didn't answer.

"Promise me", he demanded.

I nodded my head. It was like acknowledging the elephant in the room. I sighed.

I didn't have enough strength to look up and face him.

"Get the new model to replace me. The one you had your eye on", he told me, half in seriousness, half in jest.

"No one can take your place. You're special. You will always have a place in my heart", I told him.

I meant that and I wanted him to know that.

He then appeared to go into a long slumber.

We knew what was coming. The virus had taken over him. It was just a matter of time.

I thought of all the time we has spent together. All those times we shared a good laugh, those times when he bore the brunt of my anger to relive me of my stress, those long Saturday afternoons we spent playing games with each other. Those winter evenings which we passed reading books and listening to my choice of music and all the good and bad movies we saw together.

I still remember everything like it was yesterday.

We tried all that we could to keep him alive. To make him live another day, to witness one more sunset.

However, the virus was too strong for him to survive it.

Then , suddenly, in a flash, he was gone. Gone forever.




That's when I knew that my favorite computer had processed it's last binary digit.