Kemi couldn't believe her eyes, her struggles to breathe; she prayed it to be a joke or a silly prank, anything at all other than the truth. But her eyes weren't blind and the post was as clear as her name.
"Gone too soon" the post read with a picture of Millie beside it.
She scrolled through the post, praying to see any comments that debunk it as a rumour or prank. But the comments weren't encouraging either.
"I still can't believe that car crash took her from us ."one comment read.
Her phone dropped from her hands, hitting hard on the floor as she opened her mouth, trying to gasp for air.
"Oh no" she whispered trying so much to catch her breath
Millie was once her best friend. They worked in the same organization, but they hadn't spoken for years just because of a little misunderstanding, for which Kemi was clearly at fault.
She flashed back to that evening at work when Millie had confronted her about forgetting to send a last-minute report to their boss. A mistake which could have cost them their job.
Millie had stayed back to handle it and had confronted Kemi later
"Can you at least admit you're wrong, Kemi, and apologize?" Millie had asked politely.
Kemi scoffed "You know me too well. I'm not the type that apologizes. You did it for the team, why are you complaining?"
"Because it's your job description, not mine! But you left it to attend to some fantasies of yours. We could have lost our job!" Millie raised her voice, unable to hide the anger anymore.
"Well, you've saved the job so beat it!" Kemi replied, unremorseful and with pride.
And that was the beginning of their misunderstanding. No matter how people tried to convince her to own up to her mistake she didn't listen or care. She was a proud woman, and just as she had mentioned, she didn't say 'I'm sorry' even if she truly was.
Gradually the distance between them grew.
She blamed herself for not making amends. Even when Millie had summoned the courage to walk up to her to ask that they let go of the squabble, she had let her pride control her, and now there was no chance again for her to make amends.
Letting herself slip from the couch to the floor, "I'm sorry, Millie. I let my pride get in the way of our friendship", she cried. Regret stabbing her deep in her chest.
Weeks passed, and Kemi found herself standing alone at Millie's grave with a bouquet. She still felt the pain from her mistake. She couldn't bring herself to control her tears as they flowed freely.
"I wished I had done this while you still had breath. And I regret that it's coming this late. But with everything within me, I'm sorry, Millie; I hope you can still accept my apology," she sobbed.
She watched the wind blow some dry leaves around and prayed they blew her pain away too, so she could find peace. Then she swore through her tears never to let her pride destroy any beautiful relationship she had with any of her family or friends again.
She promised on Sarah's grave to do better.