29

Sienna’s POV

The door creaked softly as I opened it. Noah’s room was just as always: his toy shelf a little messy, his dinosaur nket half- hanging off the bed, and his crescent–shaped night light casting a dim, sleepy glow. But what caught my attention first was a shiny object on the small table by his bed.

Transformer X–10.

Gleaming. Brand new. Its bright blue eyes glowed, its metallic body sleek and solid. I stared at it in silence. This bwas /bthe robot Noah had been dreaming of -and Emily was bthe /bone who gave it to himb. /b

I pulled another box from a shopping bag. My own Transformer X–10. Identical model. The only difference was the color- Emily’s was metallic blue, mine was a warm bmaroon/b. I chose that color because Noah once said red looked like fireb, /b“like a brave herob./b”

I examined both robots, now standing side by side. They looked like brothers. Only… one already had a ce in his heart, and the other might never be touched.

I took a deep breath and gently ced my gift next to Emily’s. Then I sat on the edge of Noah’s bed. My eyes wandered around the room that used to echo withughter and tiny screams. The ce where I used to read bedtime stories. The ce where I often fell asleep waiting for Noah to drift off first.

Now, everything felt unfamiliar. Too quiet for a child’s room.

I stared at the two robots for a long time. In my mind, I saw Noah ying, jumping, cheering, dancing. As if he were still here.

Slowly, I leaned in and whispered softly, though I was the only one who could hear it.

“Hi, sweetheart…”

My throat tightened, but I forced ba /bsmall smile.

“Mommy just wanted to say… goodbye.”

I gently caressed the little pillow with an astronaut print. My fingers clutched its edge tightly.

“Mommy knows you’re happy bnow/b. Mommy knows you feel safer with them… and I won’t take that away from you. I just… I just hope you stay happy. That’s all.”

Tears welled in my eyes, but I didn’t let them fall.

“If one day you see two identical robots and wonder why there are two… just remember, Mommy wanted to make you happy too. Even if I was toote.”

I stood slowly. Gave the room onest look.

“Goodbye, Noah… Mommy will always be here, even if you nevere looking.

I touched the heads of both robots, as if I were gently patting Noah’s–though he wasn’t there.

Then I stepped out. Closed the door slowly behind meb, /bleaving a part of my heart in that room…..with a bred /brobot that might never be yed with.

I returned to my room with slow, deliberate bsteps/b, letting the silence of the bnight /bbe my onlypanion. My suitcase was nearly full, just onest item left–myptop, which I hadn’t packed since yesterday. I touched it briefly, then closed it and ced it carefully among my clothes and notebooks.

I had thought I’d leave in the morning. Wait for sunrise. Let the daylight clear my thoughts and give me one more reason to hold

on a little longer. But why? Leaving tomorrow or leaving now… It wouldn’t change anything. No one woulde looking. No one bwould /bask where I’d gone.

bI /bstood in the middle of the room that had long borne witness to my silence. A room always quiet, even when I cried alone in the corner of the bed. A room Liam never entered. He would stop at the doorway–band /bbonly /bif he needed something or wanted to ask about Noah. Never more than that.

I looked around the room one bst /btime. There was nothing bspecial /babout it. And yet, it was so hard to leave. Maybe because this was the ce where I held on too long. Where I waited, night after night, hoping the door would open, band /bhe’d bwalk /bin just to say, “I want to try loving you again.”

But the door remained still. bJust /blike his heart.

Quietly, I stepped out, pulling my suitcase behind me with barely a sound. The hallway was dim, the lights already turned low. I paused in front of Liam’s door. Closed. Always closed. I had never known what was behind it.

I never went in. I never even dared to touch the doorknob. That room was never mine. It belonged to Emily. The ce where she bnow /bbslept /bfortably beside the man I once called my husband. A ce warm withughter band /btouch–all the things I never had during years of marriageb. /b

I winced–not out of anger, but because I finally realized how foolish I had been to hold on for so long. Holding on to the hope that love would eventually bgrow/b, that one day bLiam /bwould open his eyes and see me as someone worthy of being loved. But what I saw was the opposite. bEver /bsince Emily came back, I saw something in Liam that I had never seen before–life. His eyes sparkled, hisughter came easier, his whole being felt more alive.

I couldn’t me him. Maybe Emily really was his true love. Maybe I had always been just a substitute, someone to fill the empty space that never truly opened itself to me.

I continued walking down the stairs. The house was silent, with only the ticking of the wall clock and the bsound /bof my heartbeat echoing in the stillness. I slowly opened the front door. The night air greeted me with a chill bthat/b, strangely, felt strengthening

A taxi waited at the gate. The driver got out and helped me load the suitcase into the trunk. I stood still for a moment in front of the house, looking at it onest time.

The house I once believed was my home. The house I cleaned every day, the house where I raised Noah, the house I decorated and cared for as if I would live there forever. But in the end, this house was never mine. And I was never truly part of anything inside it.

Goodbye, I whispered in my heart. But no tears came–not tonight.