When You’re Gone Novels & Stories

The roses I had spent all afternoon picking were already starting to wilt, just like our six years together were coming to an end. Carl disappeared for a week. When he finally came back, he didn't say a word about where he'd been or ask how I was doing. The first thing he said was that he wanted to sleep with another woman. I didn't even know how long we sat there in silence until his phone rang on the table. It was that special ringtone he had set for Wendy Lyle. "Carl, you're still not coming?" Wendy's voice came through the phone. I tightened my fist so hard that my knuckles went white. "Carl Larson! We're not over yet!"

Only now did I realize that in Gabriele’s eyes, my so-called escape was nothing more than a childish tantrum. The thought of it made me laugh, and I pushed the insignia back toward him. “I’m not going back with you.” Gabriele froze. “What did you say?” I looked at him and made myself clear. “Is your hearing failing you, Don Carlos? I said I’m not going back with you. There was never a place for me there before, and there still isn’t one now.” Gabriele’s expression turned solemn. “Faye, how long are you going to keep this up? Do you think you’re the only one who’s suffered?”

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.

Not gone. At peace. The End.

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'.

My dad called again around noon. This time, his voice was filled with urgency as he spoke, "I visited Melissa, and she really is missing. I asked the neighbors about her whereabouts, but no one had seen her recently. Do you think something bad might have happened to her?" In the meantime, my mother was in the kitchen brewing tea for Angel.