Joel didn't return to Hollow Hill for weeks after that. He couldn't. It hurt too much. But one day, when the pain became too much to bear, he went back. He sat in the old garden, listening to the same emo punk songs he had shared with Sandra, and for the first time in a long time, he cried.
She was gone, and he was alone again.
But as the wind rustled through the ivy and the setting sun bathed the mansion in golden light, Joel felt a soft, familiar warmth. It wasn't much, just a whisper of her presence, but it was enough.
And in that moment, he knew that Sandra would always be with him. Not as a ghost, but as a memory. A piece of his heart.
And that was something he could hold on to forever.
