The Last Smile

A moment later, she was standing by the window again.

“Do you think I was chasing you? No. I was protecting you.”

“Why didn’t you show it to me?”

“I couldn’t. I was tied to that house. I could only watch. Write. Be careful where I put my feet.”

“And now ?”

She touched the notebook I was holding. All the notebooks around her glowed from within.

“I can go now. I waited. You came. You saw me. You believe.”

“No!” I cried. “I don’t want to lose you again!”

She shook her head.

“You will not lose me. I am in every memory you have. In your son’s smile. In your footsteps.”

Her figure dissolves like the morning mist.

“Mom!!!” I shouted.

The light went out. The silence suffocated me.

I stayed on my knees, clutching the notebook to my chest. When the lights came back on, the apartment was empty. I only had one notebook left in my hands, with my name on the cover.

Weeks have passed since then. The apartment is empty. They say they’ll give it to new people. But I know: his shadow remains there.

I keep the notebook. Sometimes I leaf through it and I think I hear his voice.

And recently, I found myself smiling while looking out the window. For no reason. For the first time in years.

Maybe this is exactly what she was waiting for.