1.5x

I listened to his last voice note at 1.5x speed. I regret it more than the breakup.

His name was Isaac. Voice notes were our thing. Four minutes about his day, me laughing in the background of my own bedroom. I have two hundred of them. I'm a hoarder of his voice.

When we ended, he didn't call. He sent one last note, 2:11 long, and I was so angry I couldn't press play. It sat there for weeks. A little blue waveform, dead and loud.

Last night, at 2 AM, I finally pressed it. Except I was half asleep, half scrolling, and my thumb tapped the speed button. Chipmunk Isaac. 1.5x. He sounded like a cartoon apologising.

I got through the first minute before I realised. I stopped. Rewound. Played it normal.

His real voice came back, slow, tired, a bit shaky.

"Hey. I know you're probably not going to listen to this. That's okay. I just needed to say it somewhere. I'm not leaving because I stopped loving you. I'm leaving because I can't give you what you deserve right now. I'm sorry I'm a coward about it. Take care of yourself. Eat something. Sleep."

Then a pause. Long. You could hear him breathing.

"Okay. Bye. I love you. Bye."

That was at the end. The very end. The part I'd skipped at 1.5x, in three seconds.

I'd rushed through the one sentence he never said out loud.

I played it nine more times.

Slowly.