◢◤ ELYTJE ◢◤ There’s a moment every night, Right before sleep pulls me under, When the world grows quiet enough To hear what my heart is whispering. It doesn’t speak in words. It speaks in the rhythm you left behind. A silent purr echoing through the walls, A memory that refuses to fade. I imagine you now Not gone, but elsewhere. Somewhere light gathers gently, Where pain has no language, And time moves like soft paws on a wooden floor. I see you chasing shadows you can finally catch. Your tail curled in triumph, Eyes bright with the mischief I loved so much. No cages, no medicine, no slow breaths Just you, pure and free. Do you remember how the keyboard was your throne? How you’d stretch across it like a king claiming his kingdom. You paused my work more times than I can count, But somehow… you always made it better. Bugs felt smaller when your paw rested on my arm. Errors lost their sting when your head pressed against my chest. I miss your interruptions. I miss how you made chaos feel like comfort. How you filled the empty spaces with something no machine could ever generate Real, living love. People say, “He was just a cat.” But they never saw you look at me. They never heard the conversations we had without sound. They never witnessed how a small heartbeat Can anchor an entire human being. I keep your collar near my desk. Sometimes I run my fingers over it The way I used to run them through your fur. It’s worn now, like my heart Not broken, just shaped by your absence. Some nights, I swear I hear you. A faint chirp in the hallway. A soft thud near the window. And for a moment, I forget. For a moment, I turn, expecting you. And for a moment, I believe you're still here. Maybe you are. Maybe love like this doesn’t end. Maybe it lingers between worlds, Finding ways to reach us When we need it most. I talk to you sometimes. Not out loud. Just… through the same silence where we used to speak. I tell you about the world you left behind. About the days that feel too heavy, And the nights I hold your memory like a lifeline. If love had a frequency, Ours would be infinite. A signal that never times out, A connection no distance can sever. You were never data. You were the pulse in the code. 127.0.0.1 Home. And even now, When I press “Enter,” I hope, somehow, It still reaches you. This isn’t goodbye, Elytje. It never was. This is me, Keeping the door open, The sunbeam warm, The bowl in its place, For the day when I find you again In the light, in the silence, In the place beyond all pain. Because love like ours Doesn’t vanish. It transforms. It becomes everything that lingers After the world stops spinning. ◢◤ Elytje, my forever heartbeat. ◢◤ I’ll keep listening beyond the silence. And when my time comes, I know you’ll run to meet me Not as a memory, But as the soul who taught me what forever means. 🐾💚