Sara's phone rang insistently, as if carrying a hidden warning of something unusual.
She had just stepped out of the shower, her hair still damp, when she reached for the phone, a strange hesitation weighing on her heart.
"Hello?"
But the voice on the other end was not normal…
It was muffled sobbing, broken breaths that were barely understandable.
"...Sara… your father has passed away…"
Her body froze in place.
A harsh cold spread through her veins, as if time itself had suddenly stopped.
She couldn't process the words… couldn't believe them… didn't even want to.
"No… that's not possible…" she whispered, her voice trembling.
The phone slipped from her hand as she collapsed onto the floor.
She broke into tears—tears unlike anything she had ever known before…
Tears rose from the depths of her soul, carrying every pain she had hidden, every fear she had ignored.
"Dad… don't leave me…"
She kept repeating it like a lost child, until her strength gave out…
and she lost consciousness.
The night passed like an eternity…
Her body remained sprawled on the floor, motionless, as though life itself had abandoned her.
The next morning, a persistent knocking echoed through the apartment door.
Lina entered, overwhelmed with worry, only to find her friend lying on the ground, pale, her eyes red as though they had wept all night.
She rushed to her, shaking her in panic.
"Sara! What happened? Why didn't you answer my calls? You scared me!"
Sara slowly opened her eyes, her gaze empty… then whispered in a barely audible voice:
"My father… he's gone…"
Lina froze in place, as if the words had struck her too.
She sat beside her and pulled her into a tight embrace as Sara broke down again…
But this time, her sobs were deeper… harsher… like a farewell that had come too late.
Lina helped her to her feet and guided her to the bathroom, gently washing her face.
She dressed her and then said with firm tenderness:
"We have to go to your village… you need to be with your family."
When they arrived at the village…
The scene was suffocating in its sorrow.
Crying voices rose from every direction, and the place was filled with faces weighed down by grief and heartbreak.
She saw her brother sitting in a distant corner, crying bitterly, as if his soul had been torn apart.
Her mother was surrounded by women, trying to console her, yet she looked as though she had lost all strength to endure.
Sara walked in with heavy steps, as if the ground itself were swallowing her with each one…
She headed straight to the room.
There… lay her father.
Still… unmoving…
covered with a white cloth.
She approached slowly, her hand trembling, and gently pulled the cloth away from his face.
She studied his features…
He was calm…
as if merely asleep…
as if he were smiling at her—proud of her, just as he had always been.
She collapsed beside him and held his cold hand.
"Dad… I'm here… why didn't you wait for me?"
Grief spread through the room like an endless night…
The air was thick with stifled breaths and tears that refused to stop.
Cries of mourning blended with whispered prayers, rising against the walls as though searching for an escape, only to fall back into the chests of those present, growing heavier with every moment.
The scent of death lingered—heavy… unbearable.
It crept into Sara's very core, making her feel as though she were slowly suffocating, forcing her to confront a reality she could not escape.
Faces around her were pale and broken, eyes drowned in deep sorrow, as though each person had lost a part of themselves.
Children stood unusually silent, watching with frightened eyes.
Women wept softly, while the men stood helpless, hiding their weakness behind a heavy silence.
In that moment, Sara felt as though her entire world had gone dark…
as if everything that once gave her life meaning had suddenly vanished, leaving behind an emptiness too vast to be filled.
She remembered his voice… his words… his laughter…
She remembered how he used to encourage her, how he would always say:
"I'm proud of you, my daughter…"
Her voice caught in her throat, and a crushing regret tore through her chest.
"I didn't even say goodbye… not even one last word…"
She threw herself against him, crying bitterly, as if trying to wake him… or turn back time… or hold on to something that would never return.
But… in the midst of all this pain…
Sara felt something strange.
The same coldness…
the same feeling that had crept over her the night before…
She slowly lifted her head, her eyes filled with fear…
"Is this… just fate? Or is there something else…?"