In an age of instant messaging and recorded voicemails, our words take on a longevity even after we have passed away.
Often our final words are the most treasured thing we can leave our loved ones behind, and this Tumblr shows just how poignant and precious last messages can be.
The Last Messages Received captures the overwhelming emotion bottled up into just the shortest text messages; the last words said or written to loved ones before bereavements, break ups and separations.
The Tumblr is a space in which to share heartbreak and seek advice, like this girl who needed help after her boyfriend was tragically killed in a car crash.
She wrote:
My best friend and the guy I was in love with. This is the last documented thing – I can’t remember what he said on snapchat. Oh god, I miss him. He got into a car crash that night and died instantly.
I don’t think I’ll ever get over this awful, awful pain. I don’t know if I’ll ever breathe or think normally again. I don’t know how to survive anymore. I need help.
The Tumblr also acts as a virtual memorial of sorts, where people overwhelmed with sadness and grief can pay homage to those lost.
This message proves that nothing is ever as it seems, and hopefully others can learn from the user’s story that no one can be blamed for not noticing depression.
A few examples of heartbreaking final words remind us all to make time for those who matter the most.
Some of the messages on the Tumblr account, which was launched in November 2015, are a terrifying insight into the workings of the human psyche when pushed to extremes of love and fear.
After posting a screenshot of this scary text from an ex, the Tumblr user wrote:
This was sent from someone who I was in deep, stupid love with for over 3 years on and off. I was there when he was still himself, when we were falling for each other. He was mentally ill, miserable, a narcissist and will never truly love someone because he doesn’t love himself.
Still, I can’t help but think about him on a regular basis. I still wonder if he ever really loved me, if he still thinks about me, if any of it was real or if I was just part of his one way street support system.
This message serves as a reminder that text messages are permanent, and you may regret something you send in the heat of the moment.
Equally heartless is this message which shows just how cowardly and cruel some keyboard warriors can be through virtual communication.
The Tumblr feed creator, 16-year-old Emily Trunko has come to heed this warning in her own personal life.
In an interview with Buzzfeed, Emily said:
I’ve always been fascinated with glimpses into the lives of other people. I thought that the last message sent before a breakup or before someone passed away would be really poignant. Every message I send to them could be the last one I ever exchange and every message I receive could be the last one I receive.
One user’s message from her mother shows how Emily’s Tumblr can be an anonymous platform for opening up and sharing a heart-breaking experience in order to find closure.
Emily has now set up The Last Voicemail Received and Dear My Blank – which allows users to post touching sentiments from final letter they’d received for now lost loved ones – due to high demand from her followers.
I hope this space continues to help people deal with loss and reach out to others who are dealing with the heart-wrenching universal human experience of grief.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.