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I had no words. The swing we’d built together was gone, and with it, something of the past that had felt so permanent. Standing beside Nicolas, I felt a chill settle over me, colder than the early autumn air. Sabrina s old house looked
unrecognizable, even though I had walked those same steps a thousand times before. Memories flooded me, relentless, pulling me back to times when I’d thought the three of us would never be apart.
Nicolas hand rested on my shoulder, a small, steadying gesture. He and I were always close, but Sabrina had always been the heart of it all. Every laugh, every shared moment–it all felt brighter with her around. And now, she was gone. Really gone. It wasn‘ t just a relocation or a new job in some distant city. Sabrina had left us behind like we were things she no longer
needed.
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When we got the call from Savvy earlier, there was still a part of me hoping that this was all a misunderstanding. Maybe she had just needed a break, a fresh start in a new place. But when we returned and found the albums and gifts tossed aside, it hit me harder than I could‘ ve ever anticipated. Each item, each memory, had been so carefully preserved over the years. I‘ d convinced myself they meant something to her too. Now, seeing them in a pile on the curb, I wasn’t sure of anything anymore.
My fingers brushed over a small leather- bound photo album on top of the stack, a gift I’d given her for her seventeenth birthday. The cover was worn, soft from years of flipping through the pages. I opened it, hoping for… I don’t know what. A hint, maybe, that she had once cared as deeply as we did.
Inside, I found an old photo of the three of us–Sabrina in the middle, Nicolas and I on either side, her arms slung over our
shoulders. We looked so young, with
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bright, unguarded smiles. She had that spark in her eye, the one that made everyone around her feel like they
belonged. I realized now that I’d fallen in love with her that summer, the summer of sun–drenched afternoons and whispered
secrets under the stars.
Nicolas looked over my shoulder, and for a moment, neither of us spoke. There was something unreadable in his expression, a quiet sort of grief that mirrored my own. He hadn’t ever said it outright, but I knew he felt the same way about her. I could see it in the way he held himself, the way he lingered on her every word, every laugh. We’d both been in love with Sabrina, and we‘ d both held onto that hope, even if we’d never admitted it aloud.
“I thought… I thought we meant something to her,” Nicolas murmured, breaking the silence.
“Me too,” I replied, my voice barely above a whisper. “But maybe… maybe we
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didn’t mean as much as we thought.”
I wanted to be angry, to hate her for leaving without a word, but all I felt was a hollow ache, Love is a strange thing, isn’t it? It holds onto you, even when you‘ re trying to let it go. And Sabrina- she was part of every memory, every milestone in my life. Letting go of her felt impossible.
“What are we going to do?” Nicolas asked, glancing over at me. His voice was raw, his eyes filled with an emotion I recognized all too well. We were two people trying to understand why the person we loved had left us behind.
“I don’t know,” I admitted, brushing a hand through my hair. “Maybe we try to move on. Forget this happened. Or… we find out why.”
I didn’t know if that was even possible, but the thought of leaving things like this, unresolved, felt unbearable. There had to be a reason, something that explained why Sabrina would just up and abandon us like
PNOTIC TORT
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we were nothing. I glanced at the house again, wondering if the new owners knew anything.
Nicolas seemed to read my mind. “You want to go ask them?”
I hesitated, then nodded. It was a long shot, but maybe they’d found something, a letter or a note. Anything that might explain why she was doing this.
We walked up to the door, hesitating for a moment before Nicolas knocked. A woman in her forties answered, looking at us with a polite but puzzled smile. I explained, as best as I could, that we were old friends of the previous owner and had come by to… I struggled to finish the sentence, unsure of
how much to share.
“We were hoping there might be some… things left behind?” Nicolas finished for me, his voice tight. “Anything that could tell us why she left.”
The woman looked sympathetic. “Oh, you
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must be talking about Sabrina. I’m sorry. but when we moved in, most of her things had already been cleared out. All that was left was… well, what you see there on the curb. She mentioned she didn’t want to take any of it with her.”
e words hit like a punch to the gut. She dn’t want any of it. She didn’t want us.
“Thank you,” I managed, stepping back
It before I could embarrass myself further.
We returned to the pile, both of us staring at it, lost in thought. I found myself flipping through more of the albums, each photo a reminder of what once was. The trips to the lake, late night bonfires, and all the moments we’d shared. All discarded. like memories that meant nothing.
As we sat there, a thought crept into my mind, one that felt impossible to ignore. Maybe this wasn’t just Sabrina deciding to leave. Maybe there was more to this, something she hadn’t told us. Sabrina was never the type to walk away without a
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word. She had always been open, loyal, the kind of person you could count on. So why
now?
“Nicolas,” I said, my voice firmer this time. “What if… what if something happened? Something she felt she couldn‘ tell us?”
He looked at me, a flicker of hope mingling with the sadness in his eyes. “You think so?”
“I don’t know. But it doesn’t feel like
her, does it?” I shook my head. “She was always so protective of us. I can’t believe she’d just throw it all away.
Nicolas nodded, a spark igniting in him.
“Then maybe… maybe we try to find her. Get some real answers.
The idea felt reckless, but at that moment, it was all we had. If Sabrina had truly cut ties with us, then maybe this would lead nowhere. But if there was even a chance that something deeper was going on, I
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needed to know. I couldn’t live with this ache, this sense of loss without
understanding why.
As we gathered the albums and a few scattered mementos, I realized that this wasn’t just about finding Sabrina. It was about finding closure, about making sense of a love that had bound the three of us together in ways I’d never fully understood. Whether it led to forgiveness or simply a goodbye, I knew we had to try.
“Let’s go.” I said, clutching the photo album tightly.
Together, Nicolas and I left Sabrina’s old house behind, stepping away from what was and heading toward whatever might be waiting in the answers we hoped to find.
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