The Inevitable End

Liora’s mind was a tangled web of thoughts. Ever since she had turned twenty-one, an unshakable restlessness had taken root inside her, pulling her away from the world she knew. Growing up...

The mere thought of it unsettled her. Since when had it become an inevitability rather than a choice? How long had she been working? Had she ever truly wished to grow up? As a child, had she really believed she would reach this age? And even if she had—had she ever imagined she would end up here?

Could she have foreseen that her father’s decisions—and the choices that followed—would change her life forever?

Or that, for reasons beyond her understanding, fate would drag her down a path she never saw coming?

Her father had abandoned her mother when Liora had just started high school. He had shattered twenty years of marriage for nothing, leaving Liora with a deep, unshakable distrust of men.

But Liora was not the kind of girl who broke easily. She was distant, guarded, fearless—someone who never let people too close. She had built walls, thick and unyielding, sealing her heart away behind them. It was her way of staying untouchable, of keeping herself safe. And yet, no matter how hard she tried, those walls always seemed to lead her to places she never intended to go.

In the outside world, this was who she was. But at home, she was different. With her mother, she was gentle, patient, kind—a stark contrast to the mask she wore beyond their door. Life had taught her to hide behind it. And she did. Because, in the end, her mother was all she had left.

Her mother had never truly healed from what her father had done, though she never let it show. But wasn’t that what adults always did?

No matter how much pain you carried, you never let your children see it. You made sure they believed you were strong so they, too, could face the world without fear. Every child saw their parents as heroes—no one wanted to witness their downfall. And so the cycle continued. Even if parents knew their children could see through the cracks, they felt they had no choice. Stay strong. Raise strong children.

Aside from her mother, Liora trusted no one. After her father left, she had wanted to quit school, but her mother had insisted—forced her, really—to at least finish high school.

You might think that after graduation, Liora went to college, built a new life, and left her pain behind. But life had never been that kind to her. Instead, she found herself here, in this city, working as a bartender in a crowded bar. She hated her job. Every morning, she woke up drowning in disappointment, but the weight of her responsibilities toward her mother kept her moving. She picked up the pieces of her worn-out soul and carried on.

She had been working at the bar for nearly two years now, alongside Lyla and Fiona. Were they her friends? In a way, yes. But Liora always kept her distance. Though she despised her job, she had grown used to it—because she had to. Even as the last embers of hope withered inside her, nothing ever changed. She didn’t escape it. She simply learned to live with it.

As the golden sun stretched across the endless blue sky, Liora was reminded of how much she loved summer. It was early June. A group of university students had come to the bar, asking if they could host a party there. Not long after, Timothy, the bar’s owner, accepted their request, much to their delight.

And from that day on, every decision Liora made would pull her deeper into a fate she could not escape. Regret would become her shadow. Even for a night that had not yet come.

Even for the darkness that was about to begin it all.