The sun was setting lower on the horizon, and a warm golden light was beginning to caught up to us as we walked leisurely down Dubai's busy streets, filled with life. The hot muggy air that we had slowly come accustomed to cloaked us. Still, our surrounding was heavy with the sweet aroma of various spices and the drifting smell of freshly baked bread from the street vendors— which made it a lot tolerable.I mean, we were definitely seduced with all of them lining up in each side— contributing the overall vintage look of the street."We need to hurry and walk quickly," Abby said, gazing upward at the openness of the sky with determination. "The sun will set below the horizon in just a few hours. We still have to visit the famous snack bar around here before we go to our final destination today.""Then let's not waste a moment," Alicia agreed, already walking in the direction of a small, old-fashioned café that was placed in a snug space between two gargantuan high-rise buildings, match
The next few days we spent in Dubai had been a series of fun activities. Every morning, we woke up to a whole new place waiting for us, and every night, we went to bed with our body aching and hearts full of enchanting experience. Dubai offered us more than we could have imagined—sights to die for, activities that’d thrill you to the bones, memories that’ll seep to your soul. It was tiring, but it was worth it. From exploring hidden famous paces that actually lived up to their name, to trying the wildest rides at IMG Worlds of Adventure, every single moment had felt like we were truly living.I had never been to such day to day wild adventure. It felt like were on dora-mode for five days straight and I actually had forgotten the reason why we were here— for AUDREY. We sure made the most of it.Yet, something was creeping at the back of my mind.Elon.I had been trying to reach him, but every time I call, no one would answer. Not him, not Damian, not even Anikka or Mathilde, when we ha
My heart was ramming fast inside my chest as I rushed through the hospital entrance to find Elon. I was short of breath, and my mind was screaming at me to move faster. I was agitated. I needed to see him and see for myself— I had to check how he was going.So I wouldn’t torture myself thinking extending two more days in Dubai was a mistake because that led Elon to this place.The strong scent of antiseptic and the quiet murmurs of doctors and nurses blurred around me—engulfing my ability to hear noises. Everything felt overwhelming that I couldn’t focus on anything but the fear growing bigger each second at my chest.Elon.“Elon Murray Alistair, please,” my voice was with haste as I spoke to the nurse in the information desk.She put down the onigiri she was eating, and held the mouse. “What’s your relation to the patient?”Determination and distress collaborated in my eyes as I answered. “I’m his mother.” She was quick to type something on her computer, then she turned to me. “He
THIRD PERSON'S POVEleanor sat in that cold, sterile waiting room with legs bouncing out of control, hands twisting in her lap. The air was thick with the stench of antiseptic and something else- something metallic, almost like blood. The walls were an unholy shade of pale green, and over the reception desk the clock ticked with maddening precision, carving out each second like a blade through flesh. Eleanor hated that sound. Each tick was every moment wasted-another breath Elon could be losing.She barely noticed the nurse call her name. At the sound of her name, Eleanor sprung to feet, stumbly, and quickly, market toward the hallway, where her body was running on something between adrenaline and complete exhaustion-the sympathetic glimmer of the nurse hitting her as she was led from there toward the ICU. The doors hissed open, and she stepped into the suffocating silence of the ward.There he was.Elon lay without movement, his chest still, the rhythmic beeping of the monitors the
The world was never so quiet. Not the gentle type, not the comforting type, but the type that infiltrates under your skin, putting its arms around your neck, squeezing until every breath felt like a struggle.I sat in that chair, my muscles rigid, my fingers curled into each other so tightly that the knuckles were white. Those words still rang in my mind, each sound a knife slicing through my head.Elon was not returning.I should have been weeping. I should have been screaming, crying, sobbing—but I wasn't. I sat there, every single regret hitting me, suffocating me, breaking me into a million shards. If I had returned home earlier. If I hadn't left in the first place. If I'd only been here, maybe—The door creaked open.I hardly heard the sound, my eyes frozen on the ground. But I felt them then. Their warmth. Their concern. They didn't say anything at first. Perhaps they didn't know what to say. Alicia spoke first. She knelt down in front of me, her hands suspended before them be
“Eleanor… what I heard from the nurses, it’s not true, right?”My mother and father, Elizabeth, as well as Damian entered the room. Just like, that, the air shifted. The gloomy atmosphere turned into a stressful one— and I almost stood up to welcome them with the most triggering question i could to express my hatred, but I chose not to.For Elon’s sake. At some point, I knew he could hear me, and if ever…. I didn’t want it to be his last memory.“Elon…” My mother approached Elon’s bed, crying. “My poor grandson…”I felt like a storm had cracked open the sky, spilling over with something thick, something suffocating. My chest tightened. My hands curled into fists against my lap, my nails pressing into skin but it was never enough to suppress everything. To keep these emotions within.“Elon…” Elizabeth, with tears building on her eyes, walked closer.Damian followed. His movements were filled with hesitantly, like he wasn’t sure if he had the right to be here. His usually composed face
The world outside the walls of the hospital room went on unperturbed, pushing forward as it always did. The sun kept rising every morning and slipping gently below the horizon every night, completely unaware of the searing, burning pain that had moved into my chest. And yet, inside the antiseptic, white-bricked purgatory of the hospital, time was stalled in an eternal moment. I was stuck there, suspended on the razor's edge of holding on to life and the tortured possibility of release.Elon's breathing was mechanical, the rhythmic pattern unnatural as the ventilator kept him attached to the thin thread of life. I held his hand softly, tracing the small, delicate veins that lay close to his skin, taking the time to commit each minute detail to memory. I needed to burn the feeling of his touch into my mind so that, even when he was gone from this world, I would never lose the way he felt under my fingertips, saving that bond forever.The room was empty, devoid of any presence. My so-cal
The room was extremely quiet.The stillness around me was not merely the absence of noise, but the utter absence of life. It was a cold emptiness that pierced deeply into my chest and tugged at it, causing me to feel as if I couldn't breathe. The ventilator, which had provided life to my son, was silent. The incessant whir that had always been present, sustaining my son's life and bridging his world with ours, ceased, and his life did as well.He had vanished from view entirely.I sat next to him, gently shaking my hands as I reached them out to his. His hand still felt warm, but I knew in my mind that this warmth would not stay. Soon, after a long time, that warm comfort—his warmth—would fade away until only cold, unfeeling skin was left."Elon." I whispered his name, and my voice trembled. Now we were alone. We were alone now. Him and me.I had made it clear and firm that none of them were to come near me or my space. There was no room for their exhibition of sadness here, especiall
The apartment was quiet when I stepped inside. I closed the door behind me, took off my shoes, and coat, draping it over the chair by the door instead of hanging it up. I had to go to bed. It was late and I was tired, but my mind would not relax.I went into the kitchen and poured myself a glass of water because I wanted to keep my hands occupied. The lights of the city shone outside the window, distant and static. I drank slowly and leaned against the counter.My phone was vibrating on the table.Mike.You alright?I exhaled rapidly and shook my head. I didn't know why I was surprised. He always listened. Even when I didn't want him to.Yes. You?He responded after a few seconds.You know me. Always okay.I stared at the screen. I could imagine him saying it, that small smile in his voice, the way he always evaded answering without technically lying.I didn't respond. I had no idea what to say.I put my phone on the counter, had another sip of water, and shut off the kitchen light.
After dinner, the gallery quieted down to a comfortable hush. The takeout containers from leftovers were on the desk, and Alicia was scrolling through her phone, most likely reading the emails she'd put off eating. Mike settled back into his chair, his eyes straying in my direction every so often but not speaking much.Abby had already caught on.She always caught on."You're working late again?" she asked, putting on her coat.I shrugged. "Might as well. Got some things to wrap up."She looked at me knowingly but didn't push. "Alright. Don't burn yourself out."Alicia yawned, stretching her arms above her head before standing. "I should get going, too. Text if you need anything.""Will do."One by one, they left, their goodbyes soft in the quiet space. The gallery always felt different at night—still, untouched, like it existed in its own pocket of time.Mike hadn’t left yet.He was still in his chair, watching me. Not in an expectant way, not like he was waiting for me to say someth
I didn't want to continue argue with him. I didn't want to stay standing here, gawking at him, judging for whatever he would say because we both knew I'll never be able to believe him. There was no point.So, I gave him a once-over, before I slowly trudged in. But just as I was supposed to walked away from him, I felt a hand on my wrist."Are you not going to ask what happened to me? Aren't you curious?""Why would I be?" I asked, jiggling my wrist for release. "You're dead to me."Those words will hunt him. He probably didn't expect I'd say those after all these years we hadn't seen each other, but I couldn't care less.I was able to took back my arm from him, and when I did, I continued walking and didn't look back. He didn't pursue me any longer either— which was better for the both of us.We were nothing beside strangers now, and a conversation wouldn't do us any good.I headed back to my gallery after that, where Mike and Alicia were waiting for me. They were at the main office,
I woke up to the gentle hum of the just city beyond my window, the sun's first light filtering through the drapes. It was a quiet morning, free of the weights of workloads. I stretched, breathed deeply, and reveled in the smell of fresh linens and paint in the air—a home aroma that I had missed.It had been weeks since Mike and I returned. The transition had been smoother than I had imagined. The city was the same, the streets still throbbed the same, but I was different. I was no longer the fractured woman who had leave to heal. I had healed. I had crossed seas, strolled through ruins, and walked beneath skies Elon never had the chance to wander. And in going through it all, I wrote in his journal. Each letter, each dip of my pen, connecting me to him. My travels became his, my memories akin to what could have been his if only he lived.And somehow, it was as though he was present with me in every break of dawn and every foreign street.Mike accompanied me during those times— for mor
What Mike had said stuck with me. I stewed over it for days and let the words occupy the vacant space I didn't realize existed.It was a peaceful morning. Sun streamed through the blinds of our tiny rental apartment in a city I enjoyed but would eventually abandon. That was when I made a choice and half-heartedly told Mike that it was time to head back home.I did not want to go, really. I had learned something special this year—something good and freeing. But it was not going to last. I knew that the entire time. Maybe, in a sense, the trip had already done what it was supposed to: heal me from all the pain and trauma.At some point, we couldn't keep doing this—traveling. And I knew that. So, we booked our tickets home, packed our bags, bought souvenirs.The city did not shift when we returned. That was the first thing I noticed, and perhaps the most strange. It was as if it had waited for us, as if nothing had been disturbed. People still walked the streets, the same coffee houses s
The next day, I really left.The first night out of the town was strange to me—like freedom and something I couldn't quite comprehend myself. We rode a plane that soared through the air in silence as we departed, and when we arrived, the air gave me a different feeling. It was thicker and foreign. It was as if I had entered someone's dream. It was as if I had entered Elon's.We didn't really have a plan. We had a list of places that Elon had written in. Cities he circled in travel guides, underlined in the newspaper, and spoke of as if he knew he'd never live to see. So, I wrote for him. I started writing in his journal—first, just scribbles. Dates. Places. How the sidewalk felt beneath my feet, how the ocean echoed in a city he never visited. Then it became more. I wrote to him, as if he could read my words, as if he could follow me in the pages. By taking his journal and making it mine, I hoped to allow him to travel through me.The months went by like that. The ink from my pen tra
Morning came slowly, and sunlight dragged through the windows as an afterthought. And then my head throbbed, but not like grief did. Too many drinks, too much laughter, and just too much life for the first time in what seemed like forever left a dull ache.My body weight felt different. So I guess it was just not like the air was settling into my mattress and destroying me with images of a life that never happened.And then he appeared—Mike.Jacket and boots were tossed over the couch. His chair across from me was crossed with arms and a head tilted back—he was asleep. Peaceful. Thinking of him in that way made me feel something weird in my chest that I had not felt in a while. Comfort. Safety.Sitting up too quickly made me feel sick—nausea turned my stomach. That motion probably got him awake because he cracked an eye open and smiled lazily."You look like hell.""Thanks." The sleep and dehydration made my voice rough. I swallowed, rubbing my eyes. "What time is it?""Little past te
The night air was cold against my skin on the porch as I wrapped my fingers around a pot of tea. Distant cars hummed, leaves rubbed against each other, and it was the silence I had grown accustomed to. The last few weeks, I had been locked in this state, crying in a house that was more mausoleum than home.Yet somehow, tonight felt different. Perhaps it was the pain of carrying so much suffering for so long, or maybe the silver moonlight bathing the street lit something I had gone blind to. Whatever the reason, the words flew off my lips before I could stop them."I can't do this again."That realization settled in my chest—heavy, liberating. But it never felt complete—yet. As if drawn by something unseen, I stood and walked inside slowly but deliberately. My feet carried me up the steps, through the hall, and to the attic door. I hesitated before pushing it open, the musty scent of old wood and forgotten things greeting me.My fingers searched against dusty shelves for something—anyt
"You really want to pick yourself up, Eleanor?"I stared at him, my fingers floppy around the edge of the blanket, my mind sluggish from days of barely moving, barely eating. The weight of his question sat between us. Did I? Did I want to be better, or was I just pretending because I was tired of seeing his disappointment? My lips parted, but I hesitated. And then, slowly, I nodded.Mike studied me, unreadable. He took a deep breath and leaned back slightly, his gaze moving toward the ceiling as if debating something. When he finally spoke, his words were unexpected."Run away with me. Leave this town."I saw him blink. I scoffed—a weak, breathy sound barely above a laugh. "Don't be ridiculous, Mike."He didn't correct me. He just watched as I shook my head and brushed it away like it was nothing. Perhaps, to him, it wasn't nothing. But to me, it was absurd. Leaving the place that held every shattered piece of me was never an option. I could barely dream.This was my punishment. Stayi