CHAPTER 12
968 Words
The world did not explode this time.
It forgot.
That was worse.
Liora opened her eyes to silence so clean it felt artificial. No sky crack. No flickering light. No trembling ground. Just a soft, empty morning stretched across a city that looked almost familiar—but not quite.
She sat up slowly.
A bed she didn’t recognize.
A room she didn’t remember entering.
Her heart tightened immediately.
“Cael?” she called.
No answer.
Her chest squeezed harder.
“Cael!”
Silence again.
Then—
A knock.
Slow. Careful.
Her breath caught.
“Come in,” she said quickly.
The door opened.
A young man stepped inside.
Tall. Dark hair. Calm expression.
Not Cael.
But something about him felt… close enough to hurt.
“Good morning,” he said politely. “Are you alright?”
Liora stared at him.
Her mind struggled to catch up.
“Who are you?” she asked immediately.
The man blinked slightly, as if surprised.
“I’m your neighbor,” he said gently. “You collapsed outside last night. I brought you here.”
Her heart pounded.
“That’s impossible,” she whispered.
He frowned slightly.
“You were alone,” he said.
That sentence hit her harder than it should have.
Alone.
No.
No, she wasn’t—
Liora stood quickly.
“Where is he?” she demanded.
The man tilted his head.
“Who?”
Her voice broke slightly.
“Cael.”
Silence.
Then the man shook his head.
“I don’t know anyone by that name.”
Her breath stopped.
The room tilted slightly.
“No,” she said softly. “No, no, that’s not—”
She rushed past him toward the hallway.
Empty.
The apartment felt wrong.
Too clean.
Too untouched.
Like no one had ever lived in it properly.
She opened drawers.
Empty.
She checked the kitchen.
Unused.
She checked the living room.
Nothing.
No trace.
No scent.
No presence.
No Cael.
Her knees weakened slightly.
“This isn’t real,” she whispered.
The neighbor stepped closer carefully.
“You should sit down,” he said.
She turned sharply.
“Do you know what I’m talking about?” she asked desperately. “A man—he was here. He was always here.”
The man looked confused.
“I think you had a dream,” he said gently.
That word shattered something inside her.
Dream.
No.
No, it wasn’t—
Liora backed away slowly.
Her hands trembled.
“No,” she whispered again.
Her mind searched violently.
For his voice.
His touch.
His warmth.
Something.
Anything.
But every memory she reached for felt… slippery.
Like it didn’t want to be held.
“No, no, no…” she muttered.
Then—
A flicker.
Just one.
A memory.
Cael’s hand in hers.
His voice saying “I always come back.”
Her breath caught instantly.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Yes, you do.”
She grabbed her chest tightly.
“I remember you,” she said desperately into the empty room. “I remember you.”
But the world didn’t answer.
Outside the window, the sky was perfect.
Too perfect.
Liora pressed her forehead against the glass.
“Where are you?” she whispered.
Nothing responded.
But then—
very faintly—
she felt it.
A pull.
Somewhere deep inside her chest.
Not pain.
Not fear.
Something like… recognition.
She closed her eyes.
And for a split second—
she saw him.
Cael standing in a broken sky.
Looking at her.
Smiling faintly.
Reaching out.
And then—
gone.
Liora gasped, stepping back.
“No…” she whispered.
That wasn’t a dream.
That was him.
The neighbor watched her carefully.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked.
Liora didn’t answer.
Because she was no longer listening.
She was remembering.
Slowly.
Painfully.
Her voice trembled.
“I didn’t imagine you,” she said softly.
Silence.
Then louder—
“I DIDN’T IMAGINE YOU!”
The neighbor stepped back slightly, startled.
But Liora didn’t care.
She turned toward the window again.
Hands shaking.
“I don’t care if no one remembers you,” she whispered. “I do.”
The sky flickered.
Just slightly.
Her breath caught.
She saw it.
Just for a moment.
A crack.
Very faint.
Almost invisible.
But real.
Her heart slammed.
“Yes…” she whispered.
“You’re still here.”
Then—
a voice.
Not outside.
Not inside.
Somewhere between memory and reality.
Soft.
Familiar.
“Liora…”
Her entire body froze.
Her eyes widened.
“Cael?” she whispered.
Silence.
Then again—
“Don’t forget me.”
Tears filled her eyes instantly.
“I didn’t,” she said quickly. “I didn’t forget you. I won’t.”
The crack in the sky flickered again.
Stronger this time.
The neighbor looked up confused.
“What is that?” he asked.
But Liora didn’t turn.
She was focused on the voice.
On the feeling.
On him.
“I remember you,” she whispered again. “Even if no one else does.”
The voice came once more.
Fainter.
“Find me…”
Her breath shook.
“I will,” she said firmly.
“I will find you again.”
The sky crack widened slightly.
Reality trembling at the edges.
But Liora didn’t feel alone anymore.
Because even if the world erased him…
she refused to.
She stepped toward the door.
The neighbor called after her.
“Where are you going?”
Liora didn’t stop.
“I’m going to find someone the world forgot,” she said softly.
Outside, the world looked perfect.
But Liora knew better now.
Perfect worlds were the most fragile.
And somewhere beneath all of it—
Cael was still waiting.
For her.
Always her.
And this time…
she was going to remember him all the way to the end.
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