Chapter 1: Unanswered Questions
It was a December night. Athena was waiting for his messages. His disappearance confused her. She tried to remember one night when he had asked her, “What will you do if I disappear one day?” The memory of that moment brought sweat to her neck. She had been lying on the bed with him, her skin bare against the cool sheets. It was her first time sharing such intimacy with a person. Every breath she took seemed louder in the quiet room, her heartbeat a drum echoing in her ears. Her heart raced as she remembered how she had answered him in a low, sweaty voice.
“I don’t know,” she had said, her voice trembling with uncertainty. Words were stuck in her chest and throat.
He had looked into her eyes, sensing the pain hidden behind her words. His hand had reached out for hers, his touch warm, but even then, there had been a shadow in his gaze, something fleeting and untouchable, as though he was already slipping away.
The question echoed in her mind like an unanswered call, leaving her restless, her chest tight with the weight of silence.
The cold air nipped at her skin, creeping through the cracks in the window. She wrapped her arms tighter around herself. The questions swirled in her mind like a relentless storm. Why hadn’t he written to her? Did he no longer care? Her heart twisted as doubt took root. Was she not enough? The silence of the past two years loomed over her, heavy and oppressive, whispering cruel possibilities. Each thought stung like icy needles, leaving her more uncertain, vulnerable, and alone.
As the hours dragged on, Athena couldn’t bear the silence. She wrapped a thick shawl around her shoulders and stepped outside, letting the December night’s sting awaken her senses.. The small house she shared with her family felt stifling, its walls echoing with the voices of her parents in the other room. She needed space to think, to breathe. When she talked to her parents, her mother could sense the heaviness in her eyes. With a gentle nod, her mother allowed her the space to find some peace in herself.
Quiet streets and the stillness of winter enveloped the town. Her feet carried her instinctively toward the park, where she and he used to meet. It was where they’d sat for hours, talking about their dreams, gazing at the night sky. She would point out constellations to him and explain the stories behind them. He used to listen intently, and he would say, “You seem like magic to me.”
When she arrived, the park was empty, the swings motionless in the cold breeze. Athena sat on one, gripping the icy chains as she swayed gently back and forth. She stared at the frost-covered ground, her breath forming little clouds in the air.
Her mind drifted back to that question he had asked: “What will you do if I disappear one day?” The memory pricked at her like a thorn, making her chest ache. She felt the world spinning, her chest tightening, and her fingers trembling. To anyone else, it might seem like the chill of the night causing her to tremble, but only she knew the truth—it was the ache of a heart weighed down with unanswered questions and unspoken words. She didn’t know why he had asked it back then, but now it felt like a cruel prophecy.
The sound of crunching footsteps on the frost-covered grass pulled her out of her thoughts. She turned quickly, expecting to see him, but it was a familiar figure—a classmate from her school, Ravi.
“Athena?” he called softly, his breath visible in the frosty air. He stopped a few feet away, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. “What are you doing here so late?”
“Just came to watch the sky,” she said, her voice quiet, almost lost in the wind.
Ravi nodded and hesitated before taking a seat on the swing beside her. “I see you here sometimes,” he said, his voice careful, as if afraid of disturbing her. “Always alone. Watching the Sky, I figured you might want company, but I didn’t want to bother you.”
She glanced at him, surprised by his honesty. Ravi was one of the quieter boys in school, always keeping to himself. She didn’t know him well, but at that moment, his presence was oddly comforting.
They sat in silence for a while; the swings creaking softly under their weight. Then Ravi spoke again, his words cautious but sincere. “You miss him, don’t you?”
Athena paused, her heart giving a quiet, involuntary lurch. She hadn’t expected him to say it so plainly. “What do you mean?”
He shrugged, his gaze fixed on the stars above. “Everyone knew you two were close. But then one day, he just… wasn’t around anymore.” He turned to her with kind, curious eyes,“What happened?”
Athena didn’t answer right away. She wasn’t sure she had the words to explain. But as the night deepened, and the stars shimmered above them, she found herself speaking, her voice raw and vulnerable. She told him about how much she missed him and the warmth of those moments, the endless silence that followed.
Ravi didn’t offer any solutions. He didn’t need to. He simply sat beside her, letting her speak, and in doing so, he had given her something precious: the space to grieve, the space to heal.
When she finally fell silent, she felt lighter, as though some of the weight she had carried for so long had lifted. She wasn’t sure where life would take her next, but sitting there in the park, she realized she didn’t have to face it alone.
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