Eternal Echoes

Chapte Twenty- Nine: The Unfinished Call

Michaella's POV

I woke up to the soft light filtering through my curtains, my head still heavy from the previous night's events. Stretching, I reached for my phone, my heart pounding as I remembered my call to Gabrielle. I glanced at the clock—9:00 a.m. Scrolling through my notifications, one headline stood out: "Shooting on Maple Street Leaves Community in Shock."

My heart stopped. Maple Street was where Gabrielle lived. Panic surged through me. What do I do? What if something happened to him? God, please no...

Without thinking, I sent him a message with the picture from the news. I waited, my heart racing, each passing second feeling like an eternity. Finally, a response came.

Gabrielle: I'm in the hospital.

My heart sank, and I couldn't breathe. I wanted to call him, but something held me back. Instead, I typed, "What??? Where??? What happened??? 

He said "I was taking a walk on the street, and so..."

I started feeling dizzy, i wanted to ask him where he was, and to start running there, but I just felt that something was off, so I asked "Are you joking?"

He responded quickly. "Yes, I am."

Anger and relief washed over me in a confusing mix. "Gabrielle, this is not a joke!!"

"Everything is okay, don't worry ❤️," he replied.

"Yeah," I answered tersely.

He sent heart emojis, but I put my phone away, still shocked and reeling from what had happened.

Later that day, I had a recording session at the studio. I dreaded it, especially after the awkward encounter with Alex the previous night. But business is business.

I walked into the studio, greeting the team. Alex looked up, smiling. "Hello, our star."

I gave him a faint smile. "Shouldn't we get started?"

The recorder nodded. "Yes."

I settled into the recording booth, adjusting the microphone.

---

"Hey guys, today we're going to dive into the realms of imagination, where enchantment awaits, and stories come to life. We're stepping into a world woven with magic, wonder, and timeless tales. Our journey begins with a deep dive into the heart of fairytales, those captivating narratives that have enchanted generations.

Don't we all wish that our life was a fairytale? Think about it, you can erase the mistakes you committed, and create happy endings you wished for but didn't get. Choosing what path to take, or letting magic solve it all. We've all wished for Cinderella's glass slippers, or Ariel's granted wish, and even for Snow White's magical kiss.

We keep on wishing, and hoping because as humans we can't settle for what we have. We always want better, and we always aim for perfection. What we tend to forget is that this magic does not only exist in fairytales. In fact, we can actually live our own fairytale, but it's even more special than the Disney kind, because it's created for us, to let us shine. We are the heroines, and sometimes the devils.

Our fairytale is imperfectly perfect... just like us. It won't erase, but we will learn from past mistakes, and every lesson is a step closer to every happy ending. You want to call it childish, I seriously don't care, because I believe in happy endings and in fairytales. I grew up being a Disney lunatic. I have all the princesses' stories memorized. I've always imagined being that princess. I think I mentioned before that when I was 4 or 5 years old, I wanted to grow up and be a princess. And as funny as it's going to sound at 24 years old, I still want the same.