When You’re Gone Novels & Stories

Why then did it hurt so much when he was gone? ***

Simply because the moment for it never seemed to arrive naturally, and I let the evening pass without manufacturing one. She was reading when I came to bed, and she turned the light off when I settled in, and she said goodnight in the particular way she did when she was slightly tired, warm but economical, and I lay in the dark and thought about the word distance the way Vanessa had used it and how neatly it had sat in the space between one sentence and the next, doing its work without anyone noticing it being placed there.

“You can go as far as you want… but you’ll never really be gone.” Her trembling hand rested over her heart. “You’ll always be here.” The sky grew darker, clouds heavy with grief. A soft breeze stirred, lifting strands of her hair. And amidst the sobs and silence, it felt as if the world itself mourned with them—knowing that some farewells are never truly accepted.

Inside the banquet hall, the groom was nowhere to be seen. An inexplicable sense of panic rose in Rowena's heart. She murmured, "Nathan is still not ready? It's almost time. He's always said he wanted to marry me... Why does he suddenly not seem anxious at all?" Edwin was just about to answer when the secretary rushed in, pale and breathless. "Ms. Atkinson… Mr. Nathan Wilde won't be coming. The flight he was on...had an accident."

Fortunately, this time, it was me who no longer wanted to wait. On the way home, Griffin asked me, "Gisselle, why didn't Kyson come back with you?" I smiled and casually replied, "He had a sudden assignment, so he went back." "How long will he be gone this time?" he asked. "I don't know." Maybe a month. Maybe forever.

I announce before leaving the room leaving everyone in shock. I sigh audibly while trudging towards my room, this day is getting crazier by the minute I can't wait for tomorrow's note sarcastic term there'.

“Yeah, no shit. You think that was just talk?” A short laugh. Low. Knowing. “Nah, some of them didn't just back off.” A pause. Then– “They're gone.” My stomach dropped. “What do you mean gone?” Another pause. Longer this time my, like even they knew they were saying too much. Then, quieter– “I mean gone. You don't just disappear like that unless someone makes it happen.” Silence followed. Heavy. Thick. And in that silence– Everything clicked. My chest tightened, my fingers curling slightly against the table as I stared straight ahead, my mind racing even as my body stayed still.

Desperate and searching. Feeling for something that wasn’t there anymore. “They were there,” I whispered. “All of them were there…” “I know.” “No, you don’t!” I cried, tears spilling now. “You don’t know what it feels like!” My body shook and my breath uneven. “I didn’t even know,” I choked out. “I didn’t even know there were three and now… now one of them is just…” Gone. The word wouldn’t come out, because saying it would make it real. And I wasn’t ready

Make it go away. As the numbness took over my body, I left this world. I was no longer here. I was gone. My spirit vanished, broken in a thousand pieces.

It was a hug that translated 'I don't want you to go even though you have to'. "This almost seems familiar" Alex jokes, what a guy. "How can you possibly be laughing at a time like this? Why did you leave? You didn't even say goodbye or even say you were leaving, I search almost this whole building and I don't see you, and I'm just left to feel you are gone already, and now you’re standing right in front of me, and I don't know how to feel right now, you don't even know how I feel right now..."