For a moment, time stopped.
The raindrops around me froze in the air. The lightning behind him paused before touching the ground. The cars passing behind me went still.
And Jack… Jack floated there in the air, suspended in the frozen moment, arms outstretched, smiling like an Angel in a painting. Even his tears hung in the air like tiny crystals.
I tried to run to him, to grab him, but I couldn't move. I was frozen along with the world.
Then suddenly, everything unfroze.
Rain fell again. Thunder struck the ground. Cars moved behind me.
And Jack…He was gone.
I ran to the railing and looked down, but I couldn't see him anywhere. I kept hoping, foolishly and desperately, that maybe he had flown somewhere far, like the Angels in the stories, because in that frozen moment he truly looked like one.
I stood there, watching the river churn beneath the bridge.
A minute later, Magi, my secretary, reached me. She stared into the waters below and began crying. I didn't understand why she cried so hard. I even smiled at her, confused, thinking she was overreacting.
Seeing my smile, she grabbed me and held me tightly, sobbing harder. Then she guided me to the car and called someone with trembling hands.
Sometime later, polis vehicles pulled up beside the car, and the rain finally stopped. I stared out the window, unable to understand what was happening outside. Deep down, I already knew. I simply refused to let the thought form.
Maybe.... no, truly I was terrified. So I stayed in the car for hours, unmoving.
Morning came. Suddenly, Magi climbed into the driver's seat, started the engine, and drove along the riverbank. She stopped behind an ambulance, got out, and forced me gently but firmly to do the same.
People were gathered at the side of the road, pulling a thick rope. Something heavy was tied to the end of it.
I stared at the rope as it rose inch by inch. Legs appeared first, bound tightly. Then the torso, wearing the same pants Jack had worn. Then appeared his face.
The moment I saw the soaked clothes, I knew. When I saw his face, it became real. All the lies I had told myself while sitting in the car dissolved.
"He flew somewhere safe.
"He didn't fall into the river."
"He is an Angel."
"He's just walking home. Everything is fine. I'll take him home."
I knew they were lies. I just didn't want to believe the truth. I hoped, desperately and foolishly, that he had soared away like an Angel, even when I had seen him fall.
Watching him lying lifeless on the road, I felt my whole world shatter. My chest tightened, my limbs went numb, my vision blurred. The sirens, the polis voices, even the cries of my colleagues behind me, all faded until everything became silent.
The next moment, my legs gave out, and I collapsed onto the road.
I landed only a few feet away from him. I stared at his face for the last time for a long while. Then the world went dark.
Three days later, I woke up.
The first words I heard were, "We need to attend the funeral." Magi must have believed nothing else would bring me back to myself. She said it directly, staring into my eyes.
I couldn't walk, so she placed me in a wheelchair and took me to the funeral. I didn't speak. I simply watched everything from a distance, hollow and quiet.
When it ended and everyone left, only Magi remained. She lifted me from the chair, helped me stand, then walked away with the wheelchair, leaving me alone before Jack's grave.
In the silence, a small breeze brushed my shoulder, gentle as a hand. For a moment, it felt like Jack touching me again. And suddenly his memories flooded through me.
His smile when he sent me off to work.
His shy excitement when he brought Lisa home the first time.
His laughter when we played.
His school days, his college days.
The day he was struck by the stone.
The moment I said, "He is my son, Jack."
The day I jumped from the window, ready to die.
How every pain disappeared whenever he smiled.
The night I collapsed in the woods.
The first time I held him in the car.
The first time he smiled at me.
And his tiny face, resting in his mother's arms, waiting for a lift on the side of the road.
I cried with all the grief inside me. I cried for hours until I had nothing left. Then I left the graveyard.
Magi was waiting by the car. As soon as she saw me, she ran and hugged me tightly. I cried again in her arms. She drove me home and begged to stay the night, but I refused.
I slept alone on the floor, crying until I had no tears left. I don't know when sleep finally came. The next day, I simply continued with my routine.
Last Monday marked one year since he left me. I don't remember anything I did in that year. He left the world carrying a piece of my heart with him. From the moment I saw him lying on the road, a void opened in me, one nothing could fill; not even the entire universe, as you rightly said."
Mary stopped speaking and turned to Isha, who had been crying quietly for a long time. Mary reached out, wiping the tears from Isha's cheeks.
"This is my story," she said softly. "Until yesterday, only I knew it. And now… you and this little one in my lap know it too."
She looked down at the baby, whose bright smile softened the shadows on her face.
"I forgot to ask. What is his name?"
Isha whimpered, lifted the baby into her arms, brought him close to her face. His smile made her stop crying. "His name is Obero," she whispered.
Mary smiled and stroked the baby's soft hair. "I've never heard a name like that, but I hope he grows up to make you proud."
Isha glanced at the clock on the wall. She stood abruptly. "I've been away from home for many hours. I need to go to the mart and buy vegetables for dinner."
Mary rose as well. "I'll drive you to the mart."
Isha shook her head. "No need. I saw a mart nearby. I'll walk. They say walking is healthy for me and the baby."
Mary opened her mouth to insist, but Isha was already giggling and playing with Obero, and Mary let the words die.
Then Isha lifted her head, looked straight into Mary's eyes, and asked,
"Do you have a wish that can only be granted by the one who created everything?"
Mary blinked, startled, as though answering yes without speaking.
And Isha gently reached into the baby's shirt pocket and pulled out a small crystal chess piece a knight.
She placed the crystal knight gently into Mary's palm and said, "Keep this close to you, and you will be given a chance to wish."
As Mary stared at it, the mysterious chess piece shimmered, glowing faintly the moment her fingers curled around it. Before she could ask anything, Isha had already stepped past her, Obero resting peacefully in her arms, and walked out the door.
By the time Mary realized she was leaving, she rushed to the entrance and stepped outside, but the street was already empty. Isha was gone, vanished as quietly as she had come.
Mary looked around, searching up and down the road for even a glimpse of them, but found nothing. After a brief, anxious moment of scanning the silent neighborhood, she returned inside.
She was about to sit on the couch when the phone on the table beside the tray rang sharply. Startled, she grabbed it with one hand, still clutching the crystal knight tightly in the other.
"…Yes, I'm at home right now… Alright, I'm coming," she said quickly into the receiver.
She hung up, slipped the phone into her bag, hesitated for a breath, then placed the glowing chess piece inside as well. With one last glance toward the doorway where Isha had disappeared, Mary left the house.
End of piece