the sky looked bruised.
snow hadn’t started yet, but the cold was already in their bones.
they sat on the old bench.
eliah: “do you ever feel like everything’s slipping?”
rowan: “yeah. but not this. not you.”
eliah: “liar.”
rowan: “i mean it. i’d rather die than leave you.”
she stared at him, quiet.
he smiled like the ending wasn’t already written.
eliah: “swear it.”
rowan: “i swear.”
that night, he disappeared.
no message.
no reason.
just gone.
weeks ed.
snow came.
so did she.
every night, same bench, same silence.
until one evening—
eliah (softly): “you left me in the cold.”
she held his scarf tight in her hands.
eliah: “you said you’d stay. so i will too.”
she lay down on the bench.
eyes open.
fingers still.
heart quiet.
by morning, the snow covered her.
and their names carved into the wood blurred beneath the frost.
rowan never came back.
but neither did eliah.
--- ♡
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