”Everything goes on…”

She looked at the framed portrait depicting spring turning into winter, and the quoted words hanged amidst the serene painting.

Indeed, it was quite the vivid motif, perhaps even a little romantic despite being as equally horrid.

But what could she do? Everything that begins must one day end, so that the cycle continues.

That was why she continued to do things like usual despite it being hard to accept the altered mundane, although hoping it would fade with time, she can only put her faith into such a belief.

The morning coffee, the sweet scent of flowers crowding the room and the peaceful place outside her door, it was the same as before…

“Hmm… bitter”

The girl gazed at the fragrant black substance, a typical drink that had practically became her blood at this point with the amount she consumes at a daily basis.

Yet at this moment, it tasted bitter than ever despite having the exact same mixture.

She pondered, contemplating whether to add sugar to it but ultimately decided against it in the end.

Frustrated, she instead decided to cook under the pretense of taking her mind off things, because for some reason… today was quite arduous.

She didn’t know why, but the day seemed longer than usual and she felt more tired than ever, perhaps there was something she couldn’t remember.

She thought hard, wasting away the hours of the day constantly lying on the couch while thoughtlessly skimming through the books she typically found engaging.

No matter how hard she tried, her focus always shifted and her mind wandered, drifting away endlessly while consuming her energy even without doing anything.

“Maybe I’ll just sleep…”

So she closed her eyes, letting the darkness sink in and clear her thoughts, and for a moment… she felt at peace.

No dreams… no nightmares, nothing but an endless pitch black creeping about, but it was oddly comforting for some reason, perhaps it was because she was already familiar with the embrace of death.

In this monotone world devoid of any color, she didn’t need to try, she never felt tired, it wasn’t hard to breathe and the she hours spent didn’t feel suffocating… in here she didn’t need to exist.

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And yet before the abyss could strangle her and drag her down unto the depths, the light from the hand she always held began to pull her back up.

The girl struggled, she resisted being dragged back unto the cruel and unforgiving world above, because she didn’t need such a place to live in.

Despite her pleas, she found herself once again awake… the light shimmering down her face as tears unknowingly dropped.

The girl reached out her arm tattered with scars and burns, unraveling the bandages that kept them hidden from the rest of the world.

Now she finally remembered, the dull sensations, the loss of taste, and the emptiness that slowly made her numb over the past months.

She didn’t need it, a world without ‘her’ was not worth living, a place that existed without that person’s warmth and light felt unbelievably empty.

But the girl in question… couldn’t find it in herself to let go… because this world was ‘her’ world, a world that the two of them shared.

The mind forgets but the heart remembers, and now the girl finally regained all that made her despise this world, the memories of the person that gave her whole life meaning, and the pain of loss that ensued once they disappeared.

She takes a bouquet of pink carnations and heads towards the bedroom upstairs, an empty room that has been vacant for who knows how long.

Inside was the same view like she remembered, nothing had changed except for the few dust that compiled overtime on the bed and table.

The girl sighs, she closes her eyes and forces the tears back, gently placing the flowers on the desk in front of a picture frame with a forced smile.

“It’s me… I hope you’re doing well”

She stares at the photo and kneels down, as if doing a confession for her mistakes.

“I know… so don’t scold me for not eating properly… I’ll do it tomorrow”

Her eyes landed on the open window, watching the masses celebrate in the distance while gazing at them with envy.

“You know… they’re showing fireworks again this year, even one that comes with the color lavender, your favorite”

The girl finally stumbles, latching unto the desk for support as she lost all her strength, putting up a brave front that all but shattered at this moment.

“I... wish you were here”

The tears finally fell as the girl could no longer bottle it all up, the amount of times holding it in did a number on her mental state, and only now did it set in that the days she spends from this point on would be different.

‘It’s just another day… another 24 where you’re not here by my side, a lunala festival without you is coming…”

The girl hummed, singing a song meant for a duet while fully knowing she would recite the lyrics alone.

She sighed, it was no use despite it being their form of greeting, there was no one to accompany her on the second verse.

At that moment she waited… silence greeted her as the fireworks began to launch in the sky, going on for minutes to no end… until it finally hit midnight.

They stopped…

A sudden tune sprang up from a corner of the room, a melodic voice echoed, one that carried a sense of familiarity.

The girl’s eyes sparkled, frantically searching for the source of the sound as her whole world lit up.

As she ransacked the desk, the compartment inside contained a single music box, humming the very same song.

She smiled, singing alongside it as twilight came and bid hello unto the night, which was similar to when they made their promise, one with fireworks and countless stars at the night sky on the evening of the lunala festival.

The world was now cold and dull unlike before, perhaps living meant she would only foster the pain of old wounds.

But even so…

“I’ll continue to live… even when you’re no longer here”