And Then She Was Gone Novels & Stories

He grabbed my arm again and gripped it hard. "Stop acting pitiful, Emily. You looked down on the 10 dollars I transferred to you all those years ago, but you'd hardly find as much in a trash can, right? "And now, you're refusing the money I'm offering you. Do you think your dignity is going to fill your belly?" I stared speechlessly at him. After all these years, did he still think I broke up with him because of those $10? Back then, Lina left to study abroad without even a farewell. She broke up with him so suddenly that he found it difficult to accept reality and was extremely upset.

All I could do was watch her put on this act in front of me. Mason did not show up again for a long time, not until the day of my funeral. Vega stood in front of my grave, drinking alone. She had already sent the assistant and chauffeur away. In front of my tombstone, she spoke about our past. "You once stood in line for two hours just to buy me the cake I wanted. You were drenched in sweat… You had no idea how much that hurt me to see. I miss you so much… Can't you come visit me in my dreams?"

And, then she was gone, like she belonged to the shadow itself. He gazed at his phone, his lips twitching upward. Oh..

She was gone. I crashed to my knees, clawing at empty air, my chest heaving. Her scent lingered, faint and fading. “Quinn!” I bellowed, my voice ragged and broken. The trees swallowed the sound, mocking me with their silence. Desperation clawed at my chest, and a howl erupted from deep within me, raw and primal. I screamed her name over and over, refusing to believe what had just happened. But the truth was undeniable. She was gone.

I was not back in a week. By the time I had handled what needed handling and made it back to the city, she was not at the coffee shop and not at the noodle place and not at her campus address and the number I had for her had been disconnected and the contact who had helped me find her in the first place came back with nothing. Three months later I received a message through a channel I trusted completely. She was gone. That was the word used. Gone. The way it was used when gone meant something specific and permanent, the way it was used when someone wanted you to understand that looking was finished.

The wind swallowed her, and in moments, she was gone, vanished into the darkness as if she had never been there at all. The garden fell silent once more.

But I was alone, the warmth of her presence fading, leaving me with nothing but the echo of her words and the hollow ache of her absence. A choked sob escaped me, and I clutched at my chest, my heart heavy. She was gone, just as quickly as she had appeared, and I was left alone once more, the memory of her touch slipping further with each passing second.

From now on, I'll truly make it up to both of you. I shook my head a little. Mom, there is no 'from now on.' Caleb is already dead. But even if I were still alive, she probably would not really make anything up to me. She did not like Caleb. I understood that the moment the truck crushed me and I desperately reached toward the direction she had driven away, while she never once looked back. In her heart, Caleb mattered less than Adrian's dog. Maybe it was because I had become a ghost, but I suddenly felt so cold that I shivered.

I gasp, behind my hand. I stagger back, in shock. " Where is she?" She doesn't answer but just stares at me. " Where is she?!" I snap, making her jump slightly. I think I might end up in jail tonight. " She's gone." " Gone, where did she go, tell me?!" " She passed away." I freeze on the spot, not knowing how to react. " She had gone to the bank one day, and it so happened, to be the day some robbers decided to rob that bank. It turned out to be a robbery gone wrong, and she, amongst a few others, unfortunately didnt get out alive."

He shot her a cold look. “Stop. I’ve got it under control.” Dark spots danced across her vision. Her daughter kicked frantically. The world blurred. From a distance, as if underwater, she heard Caleb say: “I’ll fix this.” Then the world went dark.