I will never be ready

Chapter One — The Last Message

The last message Maya ever sent me arrived at 2:17 a.m.

I was asleep when my phone vibrated beside my pillow.

Half-awake, I reached for it.

I almost ignored the notification.

Then I saw her name.

Maya ❤️

My heart skipped.

For the past six hours, she had ignored every call I made.

Three missed calls.

Seven messages.

One voicemail.

And now, finally, she had replied.

My eyes struggled to focus on the screen.

There was only one sentence.

I'm sorry, Liam.

I stared at it.

Then I smiled.

Not because it was funny.

Because I thought it was an apology.

Maybe she had been angry.

Maybe she needed space.

Maybe tomorrow morning she'd come back and everything would be normal again.

I typed quickly.

Where are you?

No reply.

I sent another.

Maya, please. Just tell me you're okay.

Nothing.

I called her.

The phone rang once.

Twice.

Then went straight to voicemail.

I sat up in bed.

Something was wrong.

I knew it.

I just didn't know how wrong.

By sunrise, I was standing outside her apartment.

The door was locked.

I knocked.

"Maya?"

Nothing.

I knocked again, harder.

"Maya, it's me."

Still nothing.

I tried the handle.

Locked.

A cold feeling settled in my stomach.

Her neighbor, Mrs. Wilson, opened her door across the hallway.

She looked at me with an expression I couldn't understand.

"Liam..."

"Have you seen Maya?"

The woman hesitated.

"Not today."

"What about last night?"

She looked away.

"She left yesterday afternoon."

My heart dropped.

"Where?"

"I don't know."

"Did she say anything?"

Mrs. Wilson slowly shook her head.

But there was something in her eyes.

Something she wasn't telling me.

"Mrs. Wilson, please."

She sighed.

"She told me to tell you something if you came looking for her."

My breathing stopped.

"What?"

The woman looked directly at me.

"She said you shouldn't follow her."

I laughed nervously.

"That's ridiculous."

"Liam—"

"No."

I stepped away from her door.

"She wouldn't just disappear."

But even as I said it, I knew I was lying.

Because Maya had already disappeared.

Three months later, I was still waiting.

Everyone told me to move on.

My friends stopped mentioning her name.

My mother stopped asking if I had heard from her.

Even Mrs. Wilson eventually stopped looking at me with pity whenever I passed her apartment.

But I couldn't let go.

Every night, I returned to the same café where Maya and I had our first date.

I'd sit by the window.

Order two coffees.

One for me.

One for her.

The second cup always remained untouched.

The waitress knew me by then.

She never asked questions.

Until one rainy Thursday evening.

She placed my coffee on the table and looked at the empty chair across from me.

"You know she's not coming back, right?"

My fingers tightened around the cup.

"I know."

"Then why do you keep coming here?"

I looked at the chair.

Because Maya had once sat there and told me she wanted to grow old with me.

Because she had stolen sugar packets from the table and hidden them in my jacket.

Because she had laughed so hard at one of my stupid jokes that she nearly choked on her coffee.

Because leaving this place felt like admitting she was truly gone.

I swallowed.

"I guess..."

My voice broke.

"I guess I'll never be ready."

The waitress said nothing.

She simply walked away.

Then my phone vibrated.

I froze.

Slowly, I pulled it from my pocket.

An unknown number.

One message.

Liam Carter?

My heart began pounding.

I typed:

Who is this?

The reply came almost immediately.

Someone who knew Maya.

I stared at the screen.

Another message appeared.

If you want to know why she left, come to the old bridge at midnight.

My hands went cold.

Then came the final message.

And Liam... come alone.

I looked toward the rain-covered window.

For three months, I had begged the universe for one chance to find Maya.

Now that chance had finally arrived.

But something about those messages terrified me.

Because whoever had sent them knew something I didn't.

And deep down, I already knew one thing.

Whatever I was about to discover...

would change my life forever.