Chapter 1 - The Silence That Waited
She was never afraid of loneliness; rather, solitude had become her most familiar companion. Rising quietly, she moved toward the switchboard and turned off the tube light, letting the room sink into a softer darkness. Her attention drifted to the study table, where her hand instinctively reached for the lamp. As it flickered on, a warm dim glow spread across neatly arranged books, settling the space into a calm, almost suspended stillness.
She sat down on the chair, as if seeking refuge in the quiet light, yet her thoughts refused to settle. Lost in their quiet turbulence, her gaze suddenly caught the faint glow of her phone lying on the table. A whisper slipped from her lips, barely audible:“This time, I am sure… it is a message notification.”Hesitantly, she picked up the phone and opened WhatsApp—only to find nothing there. A strange confusion tightened within her. She frowned softly and murmured,“But I heard the vibration… what was that?”Her unease deepened. After a pause, she whispered again, almost to herself,“What is happening to me? Why does my heart keep convincing me that there is a notification on WhatsApp, when in reality there is nothing at all?”With quiet uncertainty, she stared at the WhatsApp screen, searching for a message she already knew did not exist. After a long pause, her trembling fingers slowly scrolled through the contacts until they stopped at an old name she had never truly managed to erase from her heart. A faint sigh escaped her lips as she noticed the familiar profile picture still untouched by time.Her thoughts drifted helplessly into the past. Hesitantly, she opened the photograph and zoomed in, as though trying to recover something hidden beneath the still image. Minutes slipped away unnoticed, yet her gaze remained fixed upon the screen. Tears gathered silently before flowing uncontrollably down her cheeks.In a broken whisper, she murmured,“You left without ever caring about my feelings, my sacrifices, or the place I once held in your life. I gave you the courage to fly, and in return, you shattered my heart into pieces.”Unable to endure the heaviness tightening around her chest, she placed the phone gently on the table and walked toward the refrigerator. She took out a bottle of cold water, filled a glass with unsteady hands, and returned quietly to her chair, as though the silence itself had followed her back.The dim glow of the lamp seemed to fade with every passing moment, mirroring the heaviness of her emotional state. When the pale morning light finally slipped quietly into the room, she slowly opened her eyes and realized that she had spent the entire night sitting on the chair, lost somewhere between memories and exhaustion.With slow, heavy steps, she rose from the chair and walked toward the washroom. After taking a shower and preparing a simple breakfast for herself, she decided to go for a morning walk in the nearby garden, hoping the fresh air might quiet the storm within her mind. Yet no matter how desperately she tried to escape the memories that had consumed her the previous night, they followed her there as well.The garden, once a place of calmness, now felt haunted by fragments of the past. Memories of shared laughter, morning walks together, and silent breakfasts began unfolding before her eyes like scenes from an old forgotten film. Lowering her gaze, she whispered softly,“Why do his memories keep chasing me these days, even though I know he was never truly mine? I must bury these memories before they slowly destroy what is left of me.”
