Chapter 12
What We Choose to Remember.
Three weeks passed without another strange photograph.
Aira almost began to believe that the nightmare was finally over.
Almost.
She and Ren returned to their ordinary lives.
She went back to university.
Ren started working on the bicycle he had once told her about.
They met whenever they could.
Sometimes they talked for hours.
Sometimes they sat together without saying much at all.
The strange thing was that neither of them felt the need to fill every silence anymore.
They had learned how comfortable silence could be when you were sitting beside someone who understood you.
One afternoon, Aira was sorting through old photographs in her room when she noticed something.
There was a photograph she had never seen before.
It showed her sister standing outside the old station.
Aira turned it over.
There was writing on the back.
If you're reading this, then you made it back.
Aira's hands became cold.
She read the next line.
But coming back isn't the end.
Her heart began beating faster.
She immediately called Ren.
He arrived less than twenty minutes later.
Aira showed him the photograph.
He read the message.
“Maybe she knew the passage would open again.”
“Then why didn't she warn us?”
“Maybe she didn't want us to be afraid.”
Aira stared at the photograph.
There was something else written underneath.
Go to the place where you first chose each other.
Ren looked at her.
“The station.”
“No.”
Aira shook her head.
“I don't think she means the station.”
She closed her eyes.
The memory came back.
Two children sitting beside a river.
Ren had been crying.
Aira had given him half of her sandwich.
Then she had promised she would find him if he ever disappeared.
Aira opened her eyes.
“The river.”
They went there before sunset.
The place looked almost exactly as Aira remembered it.
Tall grass moved gently in the wind.
The water reflected the orange sky.
Ren stood beside her.
“I remember this.”
“So do I.”
They walked along the riverbank.
After a few minutes, Aira noticed something beneath an old tree.
A small wooden box.
She knelt down.
Inside was a collection of children's drawings.
Most were faded.
One showed two figures holding hands.
Another showed the train.
The final drawing showed a girl standing beneath a crescent moon.
Aira recognized the handwriting immediately.
Her sister.
Beneath the drawing were four words.
Love survives forgetting everything.
Aira's eyes filled with tears.
Ren stood beside her.
“She wanted you to understand something.”
“What?”
“That forgetting someone doesn't mean they stop mattering.”
Aira looked at him.
“Do you think that's why she saved us?”
“Yes.”
Aira smiled sadly.
“Then she succeeded.”
A soft breeze moved through the trees.
For a moment, Aira thought she heard her sister laughing.
She turned.
Nobody was there.
Ren noticed.
“You heard it too.”
Aira nodded.
Neither of them spoke.
They simply stood together.
Then Ren took something from his pocket.
A small ring.
Aira stared at it.
“What is that?”
“I made it.”
“For who?”
He smiled.
“For you.”
Aira looked at the simple ring.
It wasn't expensive.
It wasn't perfect.
But it was beautiful because he had made it himself.
She held out her hand.
Ren slipped it onto her finger.
Aira looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because I wanted to give you something that wouldn't disappear.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Ren…”
“I know we can't control what happens tomorrow.”
He took her hand.
“But whatever happens, I want to remember this.”
Aira smiled.
“Then remember it.”
“I will.”
They stood beside the river as the sun disappeared.
Neither of them knew that someone was watching from across the water.
A woman stood beneath the trees.
Aira's sister.
She smiled when she saw the ring.
Then she turned away.
The Keeper appeared beside her.
“They've chosen.”
Her sister nodded.
“Yes.”
“And you?”
She looked toward Aira one last time.
“I chose long ago.”
The Keeper smiled.
“Then it's time.”
Aira suddenly looked toward the trees.
Her sister was gone.
But something remained on the ground.
A single white flower.
Aira walked over and picked it up.
She didn't know why.
She simply felt that she was supposed to.
She held it against her chest.
And for the first time, she understood what her sister had been trying to teach her.
Some people disappear from your sight.
Some disappear from your memories.
But love has a way of leaving a mark that even forgetting cannot erase.
Aira looked at Ren.
“Let's go home.”
He smiled.
Together, they walked away from the river.
Behind them, the white flower began to glow softly beneath the moonlight.