South End – 9:22 AM
The building looked the same. Brick faded by time, ivy curling near the windows, the same crack in the cement step Amara once tripped on when she was sixteen. But she didn't trip this time. She stepped over it.
Nova stood beside her with a ring of keys.
"I kept the lease. Couldn't bring myself to let it go," she said. "Thought maybe one day you'd want to come back."
Amara stared at the door. "I don't know if I want to come back."
Nova nodded. "Then maybe just visit. For now."
She unlocked it.
Upstairs Apartment – 9:29 AM
The smell was faintly dusty but familiar. Wood floors, soft light from tall windows, and a sagging couch that still leaned a little to the left.
Amara stepped in. Her fingers brushed the wall. The texture remembered her.
In the corner sat her old easel, folded. A box of her paints beneath it, untouched.
She knelt, opening the box slowly. Tubes half-used, brushes stiff. But the smell of them made something settle in her chest.
"I thought you might want to paint here again," Nova said from the doorway.
"I might," Amara said. "Someday."
Selene's Bar – 11:11 AM
The bar was quieter than usual. A storm was coming, people said. Something about the air made everything feel expectant.
Eli stood at the back, organizing bottles. Nari sat on the counter, flipping through a notebook.
"Tell me something true," she said suddenly.
Eli looked up. "About what?"
"About you."
He paused. "I'm scared I'll ruin anything good I touch."
Nari closed the notebook. "You haven't ruined this."
Eli didn't answer, but he didn't look away either.
Police Archives – 12:46 PM
Nova sat at a desk flipping through cold case files. Kade approached with a folder.
"You were right," he said, voice low. "Dominic was enrolled in a physics course two years before he vanished. One focused on Bell's Theorem."
Nova blinked. "You're kidding."
"Quantum entanglement," Kade said. "Nonlocal connections. The idea that two things can affect each other even when they're apart."
Nova looked up. "That's how he thinks of her. As something still bound to him."
Kade nodded. "We need to sever that thread."
Art Supply Store – 2:05 PM
Amara walked the aisles slowly. The smell of paper and acrylic filled the air.
A clerk—Malik, mid-20s, friendly but reserved—greeted her with a nod.
"Looking for something specific?"
Amara shook her head. "Just… seeing what speaks to me."
He smiled. "That's how the best stuff finds you."
She picked up a new sketchpad and a charcoal set.
South End – Rooftop – 5:48 PM
The sky was storm-dark. Clouds moving in fast.
Kael sat on the edge of the old rooftop where he and Amara once painted stars on the concrete with chalk. He hadn't told her he was here. He just… came.
When Amara appeared at the rooftop door, his chest tightened. She held the new sketchpad in her hand.
"I thought I might find you here," she said.
He stood slowly. "I didn't know I needed to come here until I was already walking."
Amara stepped beside him. "Funny how our feet remember things before our heads do."
They stood there, as thunder rumbled in the distance.
"I'm not asking for anything," Kael said. "Just to stand next to you, right now."
Amara looked at him.
"Then stand. But let's not pretend we're not still figuring it out."
Kael nodded. "Deal."
She opened her sketchbook, rested it on her thigh, and drew the clouds.
Kael didn't speak.
He just stayed.