CHAPTER 3
1112 Words
The crack in the sky did not close.
It stayed there.
Thin. Bright. Watching.
Liora couldn’t stop staring at it.
Even when the lights in the bookstore came back. Even when the silence outside broke into distant noise again. Even when everything looked… normal.
Nothing felt normal.
Because now she knew.
Or at least… she felt like she knew.
“You said this happens because we met,” she said slowly, her voice unsteady.
Cael stood a few steps away, the faint glow around him now gone, as if it had never existed.
“Yes.”
“And if we didn’t meet?”
“This wouldn’t start,” he replied.
Her chest tightened.
“So the problem is… us.”
He didn’t answer.
That was answer enough.
Liora turned away, running her hands through her hair.
“This is crazy,” she muttered. “This doesn’t make sense. I just met you. I don’t even know you.”
“I know,” Cael said quietly.
“Then why does it feel like I do?” she snapped, turning back to him.
The question hung in the air.
Heavy.
Dangerous.
Cael stepped closer—but carefully, like approaching something fragile.
“Because your heart remembers what your mind forgot,” he said.
Her breathing slowed.
That sentence…
It didn’t feel like a lie.
It felt like something she had been trying not to hear.
A sudden noise outside made her flinch.
A car screeched.
Voices shouted.
Then—
Silence again.
Too fast.
Too sharp.
Liora moved toward the window quickly.
“What is going on out there?”
She looked out—
And froze.
People were moving.
But not normally.
They were… repeating.
A man walking past the same spot again.
And again.
And again.
Like a broken recording.
Her heart pounded.
“No… no, no, no…”
Cael came up beside her.
“It’s starting to loop,” he said.
“What does that mean?” she asked, panic rising in her voice.
“It means time is breaking,” he answered.
She shook her head, stepping back.
“This isn’t real. This can’t be real.”
Cael reached for her—but stopped just before touching her.
“It is,” he said softly. “And it will get worse.”
Liora looked at him, fear now clear in her eyes.
“How bad?”
He hesitated.
Then—
“Everything will collapse.”
The room felt smaller.
Like the walls were closing in.
Liora hugged herself tightly.
“You said before… that I’m the reason this happens,” she whispered.
“Yes.”
“And you’re still here?” she asked, her voice breaking slightly. “Why?”
That question cut deeper than anything else.
Because it wasn’t just fear.
It was confusion.
It was hurt.
Cael finally stepped closer—this time, not stopping.
“Because leaving you doesn’t stop it,” he said.
Her eyes searched his.
“…Then what does?”
He held her gaze.
“Nothing,” he said.
The truth landed hard.
Cold.
Unavoidable.
“So everything ends no matter what?” she asked.
“No,” he said.
“Then what changes it?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he said something else.
“You.”
Her breath caught.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
She laughed once—small, disbelieving.
“That doesn’t help.”
“It’s the only truth I have,” he replied.
The sky outside cracked again.
Wider this time.
Light spilling through like something trying to escape.
The ground trembled slightly beneath their feet.
Liora grabbed the edge of the table to steady herself.
“This is getting worse,” she said.
Cael nodded.
“We don’t have much time.”
Her heart raced.
“Time for what?”
He looked at her.
“To decide what happens next.”
Liora stared at him.
Frustration rising now, mixing with fear.
“Stop talking like I understand what you mean!” she said. “Just tell me!”
Cael’s expression softened.
But his voice remained steady.
“In every world… we meet,” he said.
“In every world… we fall in love.”
Her chest tightened.
“And in every world?” she asked quietly.
He didn’t look away.
“The world ends.”
Silence.
Complete.
Heavy silence.
Liora felt like the ground had disappeared beneath her.
“That’s not possible,” she whispered.
“I wish it wasn’t.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Then why are you still here?” she asked again, softer now.
“If you know how it ends… why stay?”
Cael stepped closer.
Close enough that she could feel his breath.
Because he wasn’t afraid anymore.
“I stay,” he said, “because I’d rather be with you at the end of the world… than exist in a world where you’re not.”
That broke her.
Completely.
Liora turned away, wiping her tears quickly.
“You’re not making this easier,” she said.
“I’m not trying to,” he replied. “I’m trying to be honest.”
She laughed weakly.
“Honesty is terrifying.”
“I know.”
A pause.
Then—
“Are you afraid of me?” he asked.
She froze.
Then slowly shook her head.
“No,” she said.
“Why not?”
She turned back to him.
Because the answer surprised even her.
“Because you’re the only thing that feels real right now.”
Cael didn’t move.
Didn’t speak.
Because that mattered more than anything else she could have said.
Outside, the world continued to glitch.
Voices overlapping.
Movements repeating.
The sky breaking further.
But inside the bookstore—
They stood still.
Like the center of something bigger than both of them.
“What do we do?” Liora asked quietly.
Cael looked at her.
This time, his answer was different.
Not distant.
Not careful.
Certain.
“We don’t run,” he said.
Her heart beat faster.
“Then what?”
He stepped closer.
And this time—
He took her hand.
Warm.
Steady.
Real.
“We stay,” he said.
The word felt simple.
But it wasn’t.
Because staying meant facing everything.
Together.
Liora looked down at their hands.
Then back at him.
Fear was still there.
But something else had grown stronger.
Trust.
A small, fragile beginning.
“…Okay,” she whispered.
The moment she said it—
The crack in the sky pulsed.
Like it had heard her.
Like it was waiting.
And somewhere deep inside her—
That same forgotten feeling stirred again.
Not fear.
Not confusion.
Something deeper.
Something dangerous.
Something that felt like the beginning of love
- Writer
