The week before exams was a blur of textbooks and silence for Ariana. She and Kian existed in brief, smiling glimpses;a shared look in the library, a hurried "good luck" text. The absence was a tangible space between them, filled only with the weight of impending tests.
The day before her first exam, the dorm walls closed in. Seeking air, she fled to the college pond, settling on a bench as the sky melted into dusk. The water was a canvas of fading gold, and in the quiet, her mind drifted from formulas to the ghosts of her past.
💭 There were four of them once. A complete universe. Her father, a farmer with a booming laugh. Her mother, who smelled of sunshine. Her older brother, delivering packages to fund his bigger dreams. And her, twelve, the center of their world.
Life was simple, but it was whole. 📖
Then came the August that shattered it all. A brilliant, sunny day at the park. She remembered the cool grass, her father's steady presence, and then—the ice cream van. Its cheerful jingle was a siren song. A desperate craving for Belgian chocolate seized her.
"Please," she had whispered, her voice trembling with impending tears. 🍦
Her mother smiled. "For my girl? Of course."
"I'll help," her brother said, already on his feet. "Can't have you dropping it."
She and her father watched them cross the sun-drenched street. They bought the ice creams. They turned back, smiling. Her heart swelled with perfect, simple joy. 🍭
The truck was a violent blur of sound and metal.
The world snapped. One moment they were there; the next, they were gone, replaced by a screeching horror and a terrible silence. They lay on the asphalt, two broken forms in a spreading crimson stain.
Her brother was gone before the ambulance arrived. Her mother held on for six agonizing hours before the flickering hope was extinguished.
The sweet taste of ice cream became the taste of ash and loss. Her father's mind retreated into a labyrinth of grief. Her aunt, from the city, gathered the broken pieces of Ariana's life, which was why she was here now. ⛓
A sharp chill brought her back. The gold on the water had deepened to violet, and the stars were emerging. A single, hot tear traced her cheek;for the brother, the mother, the father, all lost.
She wiped it away, a deliberate motion. The ghosts had visited. Now, she had to turn away. She had an exam to face, a future to build, and a quiet boy named Kian, who perhaps understood that some ghosts are meant to be carried together. As night fell, she walked back to her dorm, leaving the memory by the water. 🔮