Caleb felt nothing at first. Just a hollow, numbing silence stretching endlessly inside him. It was almost funny—his body had never felt more alive, his heart beating strong, steady, refusing to fail him now. Yet, every breath felt like a betrayal.

Elyra was gone.

The words echoed in his mind, but he couldn’t grasp them. Couldn’t let them in.

Then, a sound shattered the stillness.

A gasp. A choked sob.

His mother swayed where she stood, her hand still covering her mouth as if trying to hold back the truth itself. But there was no stopping it. No denying it. Her knees buckled, and she collapsed onto the floor, the weight of her grief too much to bear.

“No…” Her voice cracked, raw with anguish. “No, no, no—please, tell me this isn’t real. Tell me she’s still here—”

His father didn’t move to catch her. He stood frozen, his face pale, his eyes wide with something unfamiliar. Something Caleb had never seen before. His father—the man who never faltered, never showed a flicker of emotion beyond disappointment or anger—looked completely, utterly lost.

“She was just a child…” His voice was barely a whisper. “My child.”

Caleb clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms. The room felt too small, the walls closing in. He could hear his mother’s ragged cries, the doctor murmuring empty condolences, the steady beep of the monitor reminding him that he was still here—still breathing, still alive—when Elyra wasn’t.

A part of him wanted to scream. Another part wanted to rip out the heart that wasn’t his and throw it away, because how could he live with it? How could he carry her inside him, knowing what they had done?

His father suddenly staggered back, gripping the edge of the doorframe as if the weight of his sins had finally crushed him. His breathing came in sharp, uneven bursts. His lips trembled.

“I never told her,” he whispered.

Caleb turned to him slowly. “Told her what?”

His father squeezed his eyes shut. His hands curled into fists, his knuckles white. “I never told her I loved her.”

Something inside Caleb snapped.

“Of course you didn’t,” he spat, his voice shaking. “None of us did.”

His father flinched, his mother letting out a broken sob beside him.

“We blamed her,” Caleb continued, his throat tightening. “For everything. For things she had no control over. And she still—” His voice cracked. He swallowed hard, trying to force the words out. “She still loved us.”

His mother buried her face in her hands, her body trembling violently. “I didn’t know,” she whispered. “I didn’t know she was sick. I—”

“You didn’t want to know,” Caleb snapped. “None of us did.”

The silence that followed was suffocating.

His father turned away, his shoulders hunched, his entire body shaking. He looked like a man standing on the edge of a cliff, staring down at the abyss of his own guilt. Then, without another word, he walked out. Their mother watched him go, but she didn’t follow. Instead, she turned to Caleb, her tear-streaked face full of something he couldn’t quite name.

Regret.

Grief.

Desperation.

But it didn’t matter. Nothing did.

Because Elyra was gone.

The rain fell in steady sheets, soaking through Caleb’s clothes as he stood in front of her grave. He didn’t care. He barely felt it.

The stone was simple, unembellished, as if they didn’t deserve to carve anything more for her.

Elyra Marei Calloway

Beloved Daughter, Cherished Sister

The words burned.

He fell to his knees, his hands pressing into the damp earth as a sob ripped through him.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, his voice breaking. “I’m so sorry.”

The last time he had spoken to her—really spoken to her—he had called her a murderer. A curse.

And still, she had saved him.

Still, she had loved him.

“I should’ve protected you,” he choked out. “I should’ve seen you. I should’ve—” His breath hitched. “You weren’t the villain, Elyra. You never were.”

He pressed a trembling hand to his chest, where her heart now beat inside him. The heart of the sister he had abandoned. The sister who had never abandoned him.

Caleb let out a broken sob.

He would never hear her voice again. Never see her smile, even the small, sad ones she had mastered over the years. Never tell her the words she had deserved to hear all along.

But even if she was gone… she was still here.

Inside him.

A part of her would live on.

And though it would never be enough to make up for what they had done, he swore he would never take this second chance for granted.

Not after everything she had given. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To Be Continued...