The cool weight of the note was in my mind, a mystery I couldn't figure out. It was a weird, chaotic pull, a sense of something important and urgent that didn't make any sense. Her quiet sadness, the memory of her sad eyes... it all swirled around inside me, and my brain, desperate for answers, couldn't let it go. It felt like a current pulling me into an ocean I hadn't even seen yet. My eyes felt heavy as I closed them, trying to get some rest from the thoughts that just wouldn't quit, but the pull was already too strong. The warmth of my covers gave way to a sudden, cool breeze, and the muffled sounds of traffic were replaced by the low whisper of the night wind.
The peaceful calm of the night, the feeling of finally being home, all of that was real. We stood together, and the world was completely still, held only by the deep warmth of his hands wrapped around mine. I don't know why, but my soul just knew it had finally found something it had been looking for forever. My heart felt full, like it had been an empty thing until right now. I looked at him, feeling every part of me connect with his peace. It was a light in the darkness, a quiet, solid feeling that this was where I belonged. There was no more scary mystery, no more fear of a past I didn't remember. There was just this moment, this person, and this perfect feeling of rightness.
He squeezed my hands gently, his smile getting softer, almost sacred. The lines on his face, which had so often looked lonely and sad, smoothed out into a peace I had only ever seen for a second before. He didn't just look happy; he looked finished, like a whole life of searching had finally ended right here with me. He brought my hands closer to his heart, and I felt a pulse of deep contentment, a quiet rhythm that flowed from him to me. It wasn't spoken; it was a truth between our hearts.
"I'm so happy," he murmured, his voice a perfect sound that settled deep inside me. The words were a quiet sigh of relief. "Everything is exactly like I wanted it to be. I have no more regrets..."
My own smile was a real, tangible thing, a light in the darkness. But in this perfect moment, the light on his face seemed to flicker, like a cloud had passed over the moon. But there was no cloud. The warmth of his hands was still there, a strong and solid comfort, but for a single, weird second, I felt a coldness against my skin. It was so small, so quick, that my brain just told me it was a trick of the light, a figment of my imagination, a bad note in a perfect song.
The warmth in his hands began to go away. It didn't happen all at once; it was a slow, quiet tide, leaving behind a coldness that made my skin prickle. A quiet, creeping horror began to settle in my stomach. My brain couldn't understand it. It tried to hold on to the feeling of his touch, to the solid fact of his hands in mine, but it was like trying to grab onto a dream you know is about to end. I looked down, and a terrible, chilling dread crawled up my spine. The clear lines of his fingers were losing their color, becoming a faint, shimmering outline. I could see the shape of the path beneath his fading body. His hands were still there, but they felt like a ghost, an empty place where something real used to be.
"Rhay...?" I whispered, the word a frantic question that barely escaped my lips. My heart hammered against my ribs, like a bird in a cage, desperately trying to get his attention before the impossible came true. He looked at me, and his eyes, which had been so full of peace, now held only a quiet, final thank you. There was no fear there, no panic about what was happening, only a deep sense of acceptance that made my stomach drop. His lips moved, slowly, deliberately, as if he were fighting to form the words through an invisible current.
"Thank you... For..."
His voice was a real thing that had now become a fading memory. The words were a quiet, perfect echo that settled deep in my soul, even as the sound itself became unreal, losing its warmth and its substance. He looked at me one last time, a deep peace on his face.
"Everything..."
The single word was a final, fragile breath, a testament to a life that had finally found what it needed. I watched as his expression of gratitude became a look of profound finality, and I knew, with a certainty that chilled me to the bone, that this was his goodbye. I stared at him, my mind trying to scream, but the sound was stuck in my throat. The panic surged, a violent wave that crashed against the quiet of the night. I lunged forward, my hands extended, trying to grab him, to hold him, to prove that he was real.
But my hands passed through him as if he were made of smoke. The feeling was more than just emptiness. It was a physical, gut-wrenching pain—the feeling of a piece of my soul being ripped away. His body, a shimmering, broken reflection, dissolved into nothing.
Then, a presence in the distance. I looked up, and off to the side, at the edge of the moonlight, stood Sister Kay. Her face was a mask of sorrow and deep regret. She was watching me, her eyes filled not with pity, but with a deep, sorrowful understanding—a silent mirror of my own pain that had just ripped through me.
The world was completely still. He was gone. Kay slowly approached, each step a quiet testament to the heavy things she carried. She didn't rush, but moved with a solemn purpose, her gaze never leaving mine. When she reached me, I felt a familiar warmth as my body, still shaking from the absence of him, was suddenly in her arms. She held me as I stared at the spot he had just occupied, her hug a warm, solemn weight that was both a comfort and a crushing finality.
"I've warned you..." she whispered, her voice slow and heavy with the weight of her own past, a gentle lament more than a blame. "Don't let him fade..."
The words were not just a final, crushing weight; they were a terrible certainty that settled deep in my soul, sealing the truth of what I had just seen. They echoed in my mind, a cold, mournful sound that told me this was not just a dream, but a terrible, undeniable warning. The world, which had held its breath after he was gone, suddenly shattered. Not into a thousand pieces, but into a single, agonizing crack, like a pane of glass breaking under a silent, immense pressure. The night, the path, and Kay's embrace dissolved into a chaotic mix of light and noise.
I shot up in bed, a cold sweat sticking to my skin. My lungs were raw, and my throat burned as a hoarse, desperate scream tore from my chest, an echo of the pain that still lived inside me.
"NOOOOOO!!!"