Chapter 12
The village below stirred with unease. Children woke crying from dreams of a girl calling their names from the ocean. Dogs barked into the night. The lighthouse, once a beacon of safety, now stood dark against the storm-bruised sky.
Amira and Elias remained inside, surrounded by flickering candles. The journal of Mirabelle lay open between them, pages trembling from the draft that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere.
Amira traced the last entry again.
> If I disappear, will anyone notice?
"She wasn't just a friend," Elias finally said. "I remember now. She loved Selene. I think… they were in love."
Amira nodded slowly. "And you?"
"I envied what they had. Selene started pulling away from me. We used to be close. Then… it was all Mirabelle. Her laughter. Her voice. Her dreams. I thought she took Selene from me."
A tear slid down his cheek.
"I told Mirabelle that Selene would never choose her over her family. That she was a phase. I told her she didn't belong."
"And after that?" Amira asked softly.
"I never saw her again."
The wind screamed through the cracks in the tower. The sea below raged, waves slamming against the rocks like fists pounding on a locked door.
Amira stood. "You didn't just forget her, Elias. You erased her."
Suddenly, a mirror in the hallway shattered. The radio crackled again — only this time, it wasn't music. It was breathing.
Then came the voice.
"I waited. I waited for you to say my name."
Elias stepped toward the shattered glass. "Mirabelle," he whispered. "I'm sorry. I was cruel. I was afraid. And when you disappeared, I convinced myself you never existed. But you did. You mattered. And I see you now."
The candles around them flared, then dimmed.
And for a moment, the wind stilled.
From the broken mirror, a reflection appeared — not of Elias, not of Amira — but of a girl standing in the stairwell, violet-eyed, wind-kissed, smiling.
Then the light at the top of the lighthouse blinked on — glowing warm gold once more.
The silence that followed was sacred.
The sea, for the first time in weeks, was calm.