She sat there, sober for the first time in a long while, no, not a long time, really. Every time the thought crossed her mind, it stung like a bee. She tried to convince herself that she had let go, at least to a reasonable extent. "It’s been months, after all. We’re both fine wherever we are," she whispered. But she wasn’t fine. She still yearned for it, so much that her heart bled at every thought, at the sight of a picture, at the flash of a memory. The past was heavy, thick as stone. She would sit reminiscing, smiling, until the tears strolled down her cheeks. "Some doors had to close, some bridges had to burn, some tides had to turn," she told herself.

Yet, to her greatest dismay, her heart refused to accept it. In the quiet hum of a thousand memories, laughter still echoed through the breeze, voices lingered like a song never meant to be forgotten. For the first time in a while, she longed for soft palms cupping her face, assuring her that everything would be okay. She wanted a smile so beautiful it promised a thousand moments. She yearned for a hug so warm, for the kind of silence that once felt like home. She missed every shared moment, every whispered dream. Nostalgia had become a close companion, and every thought brought tears, but not like today, today, they came in torrents, unrelenting.

"Do I have to remember the way you walked away?" she asked, drowning in her sorrow. "Do I have to miss you yet again today?" Her voice, heavy with grief, carried into the air, as if reaching the one it was meant for. “You remain fixed in the spaces in between, in the sunlight that filters through the trees, in the way the wind knows my name, just like you did. And yet again today, I wish you were here with me.”