"The past is a locked room. We rattle its doors, desperate for answers, only to find the keys we seek are made of rust and regret."
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Amara's POV
The notebook was buried at the bottom of Aiden's old duffel bag, tucked beneath a pile of faded band tees and a cracked leather journal. I hadn't touched his things since he died couldn't bear to but Eleanor's words gnawed at me. Unfinished business. The proposal letter loomed in my mind, a phantom I both craved and feared.
I dumped the bag onto the floor, dust motes swirling in the weak afternoon light. The apartment felt heavier these days, the air thick with the scent of ozone and decay. Aiden hadn't appeared since our fight on the terrace, but his absence was its own presence, a void that hummed with static.
"Where are you?" I muttered, flipping open the journal. Pages of half-finished song lyrics, grocery lists, coffee stains. Nothing about a proposal. Nothing about us.
A cold draft snaked through the room. I glanced over my shoulder, half-expecting to see him materialize with that wounded look he'd worn lately like I'd carved out his heart instead of the other way around. But the shadows stayed empty.
The notebook was next. Black cover, frayed edges, the initials A.H. embossed in peeling gold foil. My hands shook as I opened it.
Do you ever feel like you're running out of time?
The first line stabbed through me. Aiden's handwriting, slanted and urgent, filled the pages. Dates from last year. Notes about work trips, concert ideas, and then
March 14th. Asked the universe for a sign. Saw a ring in a pawnshop window. Sapphire, like her eyes. It's cheesy. She'll hate it. She'll love it.
I slammed the notebook shut.
"Looking for something?"
Aiden leaned against the bedroom doorframe, his arms crossed. He looked more solid today, the shadows under his eyes receding, but the scars on his chest still pulsed faintly, like veins of ink.
"You're here," I said, too relieved to sound angry.
"You're avoiding me."
"You're avoiding reality." I held up the notebook. "You wrote about a ring."
He stilled. "That's none of your business."
"It is if it's why you're stuck here."
He vanished.
The notebook hit the wall where he'd stood.
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Aiden's POV
The shadow found me on the rooftop, its voice slick as oil. "She's digging up graves, little ghost. Yours. Hers. Ours."
I ignored it, staring at the city below. From up here, the chaos looked ordered, manageable. Lights gridlocked into streets, people into ants. I'd brought Amara here to propose. Or had I? The memory slipped like smoke.
Sapphire, like her eyes.
The notebook entry floated back, sharp and sudden. A pawnshop. Rain on the windows. My hands shaking as I counted cash. Yes. I'd bought the ring. Hidden it. Planned to
"She'll never forgive you," the shadow crooned. "But I will. I'll forgive every lie, every failure. All you have to do is let me in."
"Go to hell."
"Already there." It laughed, the sound echoing from every direction. "You're running out of time. Out of her. How long before she realizes you're not worth the carnage?"
I gripped the railing, the metal freezing under my palms. "I never asked for this."
"You did," it hissed. "The moment you chose love over death."
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Amara's POV
The ring was in a coffee tin on the top shelf of his closet, wedged behind a box of old guitar picks. Sapphire, square-cut, flanked by tiny diamonds. No box just a crumpled velvet pouch stained with what looked like blood.
My knees buckled.
He'd bought it months before the accident. Before the fights about his job, his distance, the way he'd started working later, drinking harder. I'd thought he was falling out of love. Turns out he was just falling apart.
The bedroom door creaked.
"You weren't supposed to find that," Aiden said quietly.
I didn't turn. "Why?"
"Because it doesn't matter anymore."
"It matters!" I whirled, the ring clutched in my fist. "This is your unfinished business, isn't it? The reason you're stuck? You never proposed. You never"
"I never got the chance!" His form flickered, the scars on his chest widening. "I was on my way here. That night. The ring in my pocket. And then"
"The accident."
He looked away.
I stepped closer. "So propose now."
He laughed, bitter. "What's the point?"
"The point is you!" My voice broke. "You're fading because you're clinging to a life you didn't get to live. To a future you think you owe me. But I don't want a proposal from a ghost. I want you to let go."
The room darkened, the shadows thickening.
"You think it's that easy?" he snarled. "You think I can just "
"Yes."
"I can't!" The windows rattled. "Every time I try, I see your face. I hear your voice. And I...I can't."
I reached for him. "Then let me help you."
He dissolved before I could touch him.
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Aiden's POV
She'll never understand.
The thought looped as I paced the void, the shadow dogging my steps.
"She wants to fix you," it taunted. "But you're not a thing to be fixed. You're a thing to be fed."
"Shut up."
"Make me."
I lunged, but it slipped through my fingers, reforming behind me.
"You're running out of time," it sang. "Out of love. Out of her."
"I hate you."
"You hate yourself." It leaned in, breathless. "Say the word, and I'll take the pain away. All of it. The ring. The proposal. Her."
For a heartbeat, I considered it.
Then I thought of her face when she found the ring not joy, but grief. Not love, but loss.
"No."
The shadow hissed, dissolving into smoke.
"You'll beg for me soon enough."
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Amara's POV
The letter was in the notebook, tucked between pages of lyrics. One sentence, repeated like a mantra:
Marry me. Marry me. Marry me.
No date. No signature. Just those words, inked so hard the paper tore.
I read it aloud to the empty room.
The temperature plummeted.
Aiden materialized, his eyes wild. "Stop."
"Why? Because it's true?" I stood, the letter trembling in my hand. "You wanted to marry me. That's your anchor. That's why you're here."
"I'm here because I love you!"
"You're here because you're scared!" I shoved the letter at him. "Of this. Of us. Of what happens next!"
He stared at the words, his face crumbling. "I didn't want to die with regrets."
"But you did." My tears fell, freezing midair. "And now I'm the one living with them."
The shadows surged, swallowing the room.
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Aiden's POV
She was right.
I'd clung to the proposal like a lifeline, a final act of love to justify my cowardice. But love wasn't a ring. It wasn't a vow. It was letting go, even when every fiber of your being screamed to hold on.
The shadow loomed, grinning. "Last chance."
I closed my eyes.
Marry me. Marry me. Marry
"No."
I tore the letter in half.
The shadow screamed.
"Some questions have no answers. Some loves have no end. And some goodbyes are just the beginning of a story we tell in the dark."