Narrated by jenisha Vincent
Chapter 1: The Day That Broke Me
Some days feel like endings before anything has even begun. That day—I remember it in fragments. Grey skies. Cold coffee. A voicemail from work that didn’t feel like a surprise. My inbox had turned into a graveyard of ignored opportunities and unmet expectations.
My head was pounding. I didn’t answer anyone’s messages. I didn’t even cry at first. I just lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling, the weight in my chest slowly spreading through my limbs. The loneliness had always been there, but that day it swallowed me whole. I remember whispering to the silence around me:
"I can’t do this anymore."
And then, I cried. Not the kind of cry where tears fall delicately down your cheeks. It was the kind that racked your whole body, making you gasp for air like you were drowning in a sea of everything you’ve ever tried to hide.
Eventually, exhausted, I passed out on the bed. I don’t know what time it was. I don’t remember falling asleep. But I do remember the sound that woke me.
Knock. Knock.
Not from outside. From inside.
Chapter 2: The Door
The knock came again—soft, rhythmic, like a question.
My bedroom door.
I sat up, heart racing. I lived alone. No one should be in my apartment. Every sound was suddenly louder—the wind outside, the hum of the fridge, my own breath. I got up, slowly, and reached for the doorknob.
When I opened it, I didn’t see my hallway.
I saw sunlight pouring through a golden forest. Wildflowers. The hush of birds. The air smelled like wild honey and morning dew. I stepped through, barefoot, confused, drawn by something I couldn’t name. And then the door was gone.
I wandered for what felt like hours, following a narrow path through trees that whispered stories in the wind. I was tired, lost, but strangely not afraid.
Eventually, I found a small cottage nestled between trees. That’s where I met her.
Chapter 3: Aila
Aila was the kind of person who made you feel like you’d known her forever. She had curls that bounced when she laughed, and she always seemed to be humming a tune. She didn’t ask how I got there or why I looked like I hadn’t slept in days. She just opened her door, handed me a warm cup of something sweet, and smiled.
"You’re safe here," she said.
She taught me how to bake bread over a fire. She danced barefoot under the moonlight. We stayed up talking for hours, and I told her things I hadn’t even admitted to myself.
I was healing. Slowly.
Chapter 4: The River
One afternoon, I walked alone to a river Aila had shown me. It was hidden behind a veil of willows, and the water was cool and inviting. I slipped off my clothes and stepped in, letting the water wash away pieces of my sadness.
Then—I heard it.
Hoofbeats.
A black horse emerged through the trees. On it, a man—tall, cloaked, striking. He saw me. Our eyes met.
Time stopped.
I gasped, covered myself, and ran.
But even as I fled, something in me had already changed.
Chapter 5: The Prince
That night, Aila invited me to a celebration at a palace nearby. I didn’t ask how she knew the people there. I just let her dress me in flowing fabric and braid flowers into my hair.
The palace was glowing, lit with hundreds of lanterns. Music filled the air.
And there—at the top of the marble staircase—stood the man from the river.
He was Prince Carl.
I froze. Our eyes met again. His lips curled into a soft smile. He walked toward me, like he’d been waiting his whole life to do so.
"You didn’t let me introduce myself earlier," he said.
I backed away. "I shouldn’t be here."
"But you are," he said. "And I’m glad."
Chapter 6: Falling
Over the next few days, I saw Carl everywhere. He was always charming, always teasing, but never pushy. He learned my favorite flowers. He remembered how I liked my tea. He asked questions no one had ever asked me.
And slowly, I let my guard down.
We walked under starlit skies. We talked until morning. One night, he played a song for me on the palace piano, and I realized—
I was falling.
Chapter 7: Gone
Then, one morning, I woke up.
Back in my bed.
My apartment. My world.
The door was gone.
I searched every wall, every crevice. But it had vanished. Like it had never been there.
Had I dreamed it all?
Then I saw it—on my finger. A ring. Silver, simple. His ring.
It had been real.
Night after night, I knocked on the door. Cried for him. For Aila. For the life that had felt more like mine than the one I was born into.
Chapter 8: The Station
Eventually, I stopped waiting.
I packed a bag and went to the train station, ready to leave it all behind.
I missed the train. Of course. My luck.
And beside me—someone else had missed it too.
I turned.
He turned.
Carl.
Same eyes. Same soul.
He looked at me like he couldn’t believe I was real. “Hazel?”
“Carl?”
He stepped forward. “I opened every door. I searched every night.”
Tears spilled down my cheeks.
“I thought it was gone forever,” I whispered.
He cupped my face gently. “It was never gone. We just had to find each other again.”
And then—we kissed.
Right there, on the station platform, under flickering lights. As if the universe had rewritten itself just to bring us back together.
This wasn’t the past.
It wasn’t a dream.
It was now.
And we were here.
Together.
Forever.
React
