THE HEART OF THE UNCLAIMED
Some souls don't leave. They become the heartbeat of what remains.
"I don't belong here... do I?"
"You never left."
The first time I saw the jungle, it didn't feel unfamiliar.
It felt like something I had forgotten.
Not a place.
Not a dream.
Something... closer than that.
The air knew how I breathed.
The ground adjusted to my steps.
And somewhere beneath it all, something was still beating-
slow... steady... waiting.
Then I met them.
A stranger who didn't ask who I was.
Didn't wonder how I got there.
They just looked at me... like I had already been a part of their life.
Like I had left something unfinished.
"You came back," they said softly.
Back.
The word stayed longer than it should have.
The deeper I go, the more everything begins to blur....
memories that feel like mine but aren't,
moments I almost remember,
and a feeling I can't escape that this place isn't something I found.
"Tell me the truth."
"You won't like it."
"...I think I already don't."
Because somewhere in the heart of it all...
there is something still alive.
Still remembering.
Still holding on.
And when I finally reach it-
I'll have to decide.
Stay... and become part of something that never forgets.
Or leave... and lose something I don't even remember having.
"If I was never meant to leave... why does it feel like I was the one who chose to?"