The rain that fell that afternoon felt different to Zavian.
He was still standing beneath the tree where his name and Alena's had been carved. The old park caretaker's words kept circling in his mind.
“I promised I would wait for the rain until she came back.”
The sentence felt as though it hadn't come from someone else.
It had come from him.
Zavian really had said it once.
But how could he have forgotten a promise that big?
Damar stood beside him, watching his friend's face.
“Zav.”
“Hmm?”
“Are you sure you want to keep going?”
Zavian didn't answer right away.
He looked at the carving on the tree.
“I've come this far.”
“But what if all the answers you're looking for turn out to be painful?”
Zavian gave a small smile.
“You know something?”
“What?”
“I used to be afraid of losing something I didn't even have yet.”
Damar furrowed his brow.
“What do you mean?”
“Now I'm afraid of losing something I once had.”
Damar fell silent.
He knew those words weren't just something Zavian had said in passing.
There was someone who meant a great deal to Zavian.
Someone who could still make him feel a sense of loss, even after all these years.
Before they left the park, the old man called out to Zavian.
“Wait a moment.”
Zavian turned around.
“What is it, sir?”
The man walked toward an old bench near the tree.
He picked up something tucked beneath one of the bench's planks.
A small box.
“I kept this because she asked me to.”
Zavian stepped closer.
“She did?”
“Alena.”
Zavian's heart began racing again.
“Why are you only giving it to me now?”
The old man smiled.
“Because she said this could only be given to you when you came back looking for her.”
Zavian accepted the box with trembling hands.
“What is inside?”
“Open it yourself.”
The three of them left the park after thanking him.
On the way home, Zavian barely spoke.
The small box remained in his hands the entire time.
As though if he let go of it, all the answers would disappear again.
When they arrived home, he went straight to his room.
Damar followed him in without being asked.
“Are you opening it now?”
Zavian sat on the edge of the bed.
“Yeah.”
He slowly opened the box.
Inside was an old cassette.
Damar raised an eyebrow.
“A cassette?”
Zavian picked it up.
There was handwriting on the front.
“For Zavian.”
Damar looked around.
“Do you still have a cassette player?”
Zavian thought for a moment.
“I think it's in the storage room.”
They searched through old things for several minutes before finally finding a cassette player that still worked.
Zavian inserted the cassette.
A burst of static sounded before a woman's voice finally came through.
A voice that instantly made Zavian's body go rigid.
“Hi, Zavian.”
His breath caught.
He didn't know why.
But hearing that voice felt like finding a missing part of himself.
Damar looked at him.
“Alena?”
Zavian didn't answer.
He only listened.
“If you're hearing this recording, that means you've found all the clues I left behind.”
The woman's voice was gentle.
“I don't know when you'll hear this. Maybe a few months from now. Maybe a few years.”
There was a pause.
“But I know one thing. You will look for me.”
Zavian closed his eyes.
The rain outside sounded heavier.
“I know you might be angry. You might be confused. You might be wondering why I left.”
The voice stopped for a moment.
“But I want you to know that I never wanted to leave you.”
Damar lowered his head.
Zavian remained silent.
“There was something I couldn't explain back then. Not because I didn't trust you. But because I was afraid.”
The cassette stopped again.
Then Alena's voice came through more softly.
“Zavian, if one day you remember everything, don't blame yourself.”
Zavian's eyes flew open.
The sentence made him feel as though he had almost remembered something.
“I know you always think every mistake is your fault. But not this time.”
The recording continued.
“I want you to keep living your life. Laugh. Dream. Do the things you love.”
Then Alena's voice trembled slightly.
“And when the rain falls, I hope you won't wait for me out of guilt anymore.”
Zavian froze.
Guilt.
Why had Alena said that?
What had really happened?
The cassette stopped briefly again.
Then came the final sentence.
“But if you still want to find me, look for the place where we spoke for the last time.”
Alena's voice grew fainter.
“I left something there.”
Click.
The cassette stopped.
The room fell silent.
Zavian remained sitting without moving.
Damar finally spoke.
“The last place?”
Zavian nodded slowly.
“Yeah.”
“Do you know where it is?”
Zavian stared blankly ahead.
“I don't know.”
“Then how are you going to find it?”
Zavian looked at the cassette.
“I think my memory will lead me there.”
That night, Zavian tried to sleep.
But every time he closed his eyes, fragments of memory came to him.
Alena's voice.
A soft laugh.
A road.
Heavy rain.
And the face of someone who looked disappointed.
At last, a shadow began to take clearer shape.
A place.
An old building on the outskirts of the city.
Zavian sat up at once.
His breathing quickened.
He grabbed a piece of paper and wrote something down.
An address.
He didn't know where the memory had come from.
But he was sure.
That was the place.
The next morning, he showed the address to Damar.
Damar read the paper.
“This place...”
“You know it?”
Damar looked hesitant.
“I've heard of it.”
“Where?”
“An old building near the river.”
Zavian looked at him.
“Why did your expression change?”
Damar was silent.
“Mar.”
Damar sighed.
“Because that place has a dark history.”
“What kind of history?”
Damar looked at Zavian.
“That was the last place people saw you and Alena together.”
Zavian fell silent.
“And the place where they found you alone after that rainy night.”
The atmosphere changed at once.
Zavian felt something cold spread through his body.
That night.
The heavy rain.
Alena.
And himself.
All the answers seemed to be waiting in the same place.
The place he'd avoided all this time without even realizing it.
“I have to go there.”
Damar nodded.
“I'll come with you.”
Zavian looked out the window.
The sky was beginning to darken.
Rain clouds were gathering again.
As though the sky knew.
It was time for Zavian to return to the place where everything had begun.