Bittersweet Oblivion

Chapter Seven

“Where is the sofa?”

Mia stopped in the middle of the living room and looked at Elena. “What?”

Elena didn’t answer. She stood just inside the doorway, staring at the empty space beneath the window. Ethan’s grey sofa had always been there, angled toward the television. She had spent countless evenings curled into one corner of it, complaining about her feet while Ethan laughed and told her she was being dramatic. Now there was nothing. Not the sofa, not the glass coffee table, not even the rug beneath it.

Mia slowly looked around the room. “The television is gone too.”

Elena’s eyes moved across the space. The cabinet was gone. The shelves were bare. Even the framed photograph from their engagement dinner had disappeared from the wall.  

“What happened here?”

Mia took another step inside. “Maybe he moved some things.”

“Today?”

“I don’t know.”

“On his wedding day?”

Mia looked at her, but neither of them had an answer. They had knocked twice before Elena tried the handle, and the door had opened without resistance, leaving them standing in a house that looked as though someone had carefully erased every trace of the man who lived there.

Mia glanced toward the hallway. “Do you think someone broke in?”

Elena looked around again. Nothing was broken. No drawers had been pulled open, no glass lay on the floor, and there was no sign of a struggle. Just empty rooms.

“Maybe they took everything,” Mia said.

Elena looked at her. “Everything?”

“I don’t know. I’m trying to make sense of it.”

They moved upstairs. The bedroom was worse. The bed was gone, along with the bedside tables and the photographs that had once stood beside Ethan’s lamp. Elena walked to the wardrobe and placed her hand on the handle, hesitating for a moment before pulling it open.

Nothing.

She opened the second door. Empty. The drawers beneath it held nothing but dust.

Elena stared at the bare shelves before a strange laugh escaped her.

Mia turned toward her. “What?”

“The robbers didn’t have clothes?”

“Elena…”

“No, think about it.” She laughed again, but there was no humour in it now. “They came here, took the television, the furniture, the photographs…” Her fingers moved along the empty rail. “They took every shirt he owned.”

Mia said nothing.

Elena’s smile slowly disappeared. Even the old blue shirt she used to steal whenever she stayed over was gone.  

“He didn’t leave anything.”

Mia stepped closer. “Elena, maybe—”

Her phone began ringing, cutting Mia off. Elena pulled it from her bag. The name of the hospital appeared on the screen. Something tightened in her chest.

“Answer it,” Mia said.

Elena did. “Hello?”

She listened, and the expression on her face gradually changed.  

“What happened?”

There was a pause.  

“I’m coming.”

Another pause.  

“No. I’m coming now.”

She ended the call.

Mia was already reaching for her bag. “What did they say?”

Elena stared at the screen for a moment before looking up. “They want me at the hospital.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“They didn’t tell you?”

Elena shook her head. “No.”

Mia took her hand. “Then let’s go.”

---

The doctor was waiting when they arrived. Elena saw him at the end of the corridor and immediately slowed. There was something in his face, something that made her stomach drop before he had spoken a word.

“Where is my mother?”

The doctor walked toward her. “Elena—”

“Where is she?”

He stopped in front of her, his expression softening. “I am very sorry.”

Elena stared at him.  

“No.”

“I’m afraid—”

“No.”

Her eyes moved past him toward the ward. “She was here.”

“I know.”

“She was here this morning.”

“I know.”

“Then take me to her.”

The doctor didn’t move.

Elena’s breathing became shallow. “Take me to my mother.”

He stepped aside.

She walked into the room. Her mother lay beneath a white sheet. Elena stopped beside the bed. For several seconds she couldn’t bring herself to touch her. Then she reached for her mother’s hand. It was cold.

She wrapped both hands around it and squeezed gently.  

“Mum?”

There was no response.

Elena squeezed harder. “Come on.” Her voice trembled. “You’re always complaining about how cold these hospitals are.”

Nothing.

Her eyes filled with tears. “You should be complaining now.”

A sob escaped her as she bent over the bed, pressing her mother’s hand against her cheek.  

“You didn’t even see the dress.” Her shoulders shook. “You kept asking me what it looked like. I wanted you to see me.”

Mia stood near the door, tears running silently down her face.

Elena lifted her head.  

“Ethan left, Mummy.” The words came out small and broken. “He left.” She looked at her mother’s face as though waiting for some reaction, some familiar movement, anything that would tell her this wasn’t real. “He didn’t come.” Her grip tightened around her mother’s hand. “And now you left too?” Her voice broke completely. “Why did you leave too?”

She pulled at the sheet. “No. Wake up.”

The nurses moved toward her.  

“Please, ma’am.”

“Don’t touch me.”

“Elena…”

“She’s my mother!” She clung to the bed, refusing to let go. “I just got here.”

Mia hurried toward her. “Elena, come with me.”

“No.”

“You need to come outside.”

“I can’t leave her.”

“You’re not leaving her.”

“I can’t!” Her voice cracked into another sob. “I can’t leave her here.”

The nurses helped Mia pull her away from the bed. Elena stumbled into the corridor, fighting to turn back.  

“Please!”

Mia held her tightly. “I’m here.”

Elena cried against her shoulder until there was nothing left in her voice.

---

Later, they sat outside the ward. Elena stared through the glass doors while the hospital continued moving around them. A nurse hurried past with a tray. A man stood at the reception desk arguing quietly about a bill. Somewhere down the corridor, a child laughed.

Elena stared at the doors. How could somebody laugh? How could the lights still be on? How could people still be worried about bills and appointments and going home when her mother was lying in a room only a few metres away?

Mia placed a bottle of water beside her, but Elena didn’t touch it. Her eyes dropped to her hand. The wedding ring caught the light. She twisted it around her finger once, then again, before pulling it off. A pale mark remained around her finger.

Mia noticed.  

“Elena…”

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to call myself now.”

Mia swallowed.

Elena turned the ring over in her palm. “This morning I was supposed to be someone’s wife.” She stared at it for a moment. “Now I don’t even know where he is.” She closed her fingers around the ring. “I thought today was supposed to be the beginning.” Her voice dropped. “I didn’t know it was going to be the end of everything.”

Mia leaned against her shoulder, and they stayed that way until Mia’s phone rang. She checked the screen.  

“My mum.”

Elena nodded. “You should go.”

“I don’t want to leave you.”

“I’ll be fine.”

Mia gave her a look. “You’re not fine.”

Elena managed the faintest smile. “I know.”

“Come home with me.”

Elena shook her head. “I just need to be alone.”

Mia hesitated. “Then at least promise me you’ll call when you get home.”

“I promise.”

“And don’t switch your phone off.”

“I won’t.”

Mia squeezed her hand. “I’ll come back tomorrow.”

Elena nodded and watched her friend walk through the hospital doors. Only when Mia disappeared from sight did Elena realise how alone she was.

Her phone rang again. She looked at the screen. The cake designer. She answered.  

“Hello?”

The woman’s voice was cheerful at first, completely unaware of the day Elena had just survived. She began explaining that there was still an outstanding balance and asked whether the cake should still be delivered the following morning.

Elena closed her eyes. There would be no celebration tomorrow. There would be no cake. There was no wedding.  

“I can’t pay you today, please.”

The woman went quiet.

Elena swallowed. “I’m sorry.”

She ended the call and switched off her phone. No more calls. No more explanations. No more people asking her for things she couldn’t give.

She stood and walked away from the hospital. She didn’t know where she was going. She only knew she couldn’t sit there anymore.

The night air brushed against her face as she walked along the pavement. Her mother’s voice came back to her in fragments.  

*Don’t forget to eat.*  

*Call me when you get there.*  

*You look beautiful.*

Elena closed her eyes briefly and kept walking. The ring was still in her hand. She looked down at it, and for a moment she remembered Ethan sliding it onto her finger, the promise, the smile, and the future she had believed was waiting for her. Then she remembered the empty wardrobe.

Her steps slowed. She hadn’t realised she had reached the road. She stood at the edge, staring at nothing, and when the pedestrian light changed, she stepped forward.

A horn sounded.

Elena didn’t react.

The horn came again, louder this time.

She looked up.

Headlights rushed toward her.

The screech of tyres tore through the night.

Elena turned.

And then—  

nothing.