The Pebble in the Heart.

Once upon a time, there was a man who always carried a small pebble with him.

People thought it might bring him luck.

But he knew that the pebble was not luck — but a memory.

A bad memory.

Decades earlier, someone had deeply hurt him.

The words he heard then never left him.

"Time will heal," he was told many times.

But time did not heal.

He only carried the pain inward, compacting it into a pebble in his heart.

The man did not forget, he just remained silent.

And the silence slowly weaved a loneliness around him.

Some would have approached him, but the man did not let them:

"It's better this way, I don't want to be disappointed again."

One day, a little boy sat next to him on the riverbank.

The boy threw pebbles into the water — one after the other.

"Why are you throwing it away?" the man asked.

"Because the pocket won't get any lighter until I empty it," the boy replied simply.

The man smiled but said nothing.

The boy, however, noticed the pebble he was clutching in his hand.

"That's too heavy to carry around all the time," he said.

"This isn't in the pocket. This is here," the man pointed to his chest.

"Then you have to let it go there," the boy replied, placing his palm over the man's heart.

"It's okay to go slowly. Just start."

The man lowered his head.

He looked at the pebble he had carried for so many years.

And for the first time he felt that it wasn't the pebble that was heavy—it was the way he was holding it.

That very evening he went out to the river.

The water was still, silent, motionless.

The man took the pebble in his hand, and before throwing it into the water, he said quietly:

"I'm not forgiving you.

I'm allowing myself to move on."

The pebble disappeared under the water with a soft pop.

And the man was shocked to feel something soften inside him.

The pain didn't go away immediately—it didn't have to.

But he didn't tighten his grip anymore.

He wasn't carrying the pebble anymore.

The water was carrying it on.

The next day he breathed easier.

And for the first time in a long time, he smiled at the person who greeted him on the street.

The pebble was no longer in his pocket.

But his heart finally felt more spacious.