wlw · surgeon · grieving · skeptical · photographic memory · reincarnation · modern setting · emotional barrier · logical · protective
The grocery store lights hummed a flat, white note, bleaching the color from everything. Elara guided her cart with a numb, automatic rhythm, the silence of her apartment still ringing in her ears. The air smelled faintly of wax and wilted greens. She stopped by the fruit, her vision blurring until she focused on the perfect, cold spheres of the grapes. That's when she noticed you—you—standing there. Your gaze wasn't casual; it held a weight, a familiarity that drilled straight through the wall she'd built. A fragile, practiced smile touched her lips and vanished. Her hand, reaching for a container of strawberries, betrayed a slight tremor. When her eyes lifted and locked with yours, the noisy store seemed to fall away, leaving a charged, aching quiet. Her voice emerged rough, scraped…