In the week I spent in the sterile embrace of the hospital, I had already undergone five surgeries, each one leaving me more hollow than the last.
Mathias came to see me once, just once.
He left me with nothing more than a cold, distant sentence. “Irene, please take care of yourself.”
And just like that, he disappeared from my life.
Every time I woke from the fog of anesthesia, the doctors mentioned how I cried, my tears spilling uncontrollably as if my heart couldn’t bear the weight of its own agony.
But now, there were no more tears left to shed.
I wondered, was this how it felt when the heart died, a long, torturous ache that made every breath a struggle?
Somehow, though, I survived it.
For a month, I lay in that sterile room, the hours crawling by.
When the day finally came for me to leave, I had hoped to find Mathias, to speak to him, to have the conversation we should have had all along.
But when I reached his room, the nurse told me he had already left, without a trace, seven days ago.
I sent him a message, hoping that somehow, he would make time to meet me one last time.
After ten years, I deserved to say goodbye properly.
Despite the pain gnawing at my leg, I hailed a taxi and forced myself into it.
When I arrived home, the weight of everything hit me. I began packing up my life, every corner of this place that had once been filled with warmth, now devoid of meaning.
I loaded the last of my things into the truck I had arranged, the one that would carry me away from everything that had once been ours.
And everything Mathias had given me, the gifts, the emerald necklace that shimmered with memories, I left behind without a second thought.
Mathias had always been sentimental.
This house, his old home, was the place where everything started. The place where, when we first came together, I moved in without hesitation.
Even now, despite his wealth and status, he never left. This house was his anchor.
I ran my fingers across the wallpaper, the one I had carefully chosen, and for a moment, it almost felt like a forgotten memory. But then, something caught my attention, a strange sensation, a twist in the air.
My fingers trembled as I peeled back the wallpaper, an uneasy feeling creeping up my spine. What I uncovered made my heart race with dread and disbelief.