Not far away from the flower patches; Under the majestic oak, three gravestones were shadowed by the branches of the tree.

The stones had names engraved into them, Eryna sat beside one of the graves, her eyes were calmly shut and she traced her fingers through the engraving, her long lashes trembled slightly as her fingers felt the ups and downs on the stone.

 

“Simba Garcia.” She whispered into the wind.

 

Renya looked at her sister in pain, she knew how much she wanted to be loved and how much she had missed Simba.

 

Eryna slowly opened her eyes and shifted her gaze towards the other two stones and gave out a half-hearted laugh, 

 

“I was amused at first when I saw my gravestone,” 

 

Eryna  was looking at the stone placed beside Simba’s; in a beautiful font her name “Eryna Serene” was inscribed.

 

“Sigh, it was the least I could do for my sister who was rumored to be dead.”

 

Renya spoke with guilt and thought Eryna resented her,

 

“Thanks, Even though I am not beside him, my name will always be by his side. He won’t be lonely,”

 

‘Though I will always be lonely, without him by my side,’ 

 

Eryna thought to herself as a crystal-like tear fell from her eye, Her hopeless eyes stared at Simba’s gravestone, She moved in closer to the stone and kissed Simba’s name lightly.

 

Eryna’s lips moved,

 

“Don’t look at me like that or I won't be able to collect the broken pieces of myself,”

Without looking at Renya. Eryna felt her sympathetic gaze on her back.

 

She slowly stood up and looked at the three stones one last time, she took a few steps towards the last one where her mother was buried, she slightly bowed and placed a white flower on her grave.

 

“Mother, I am sorry for not visiting you these years, I will come again,” she whispered, 

 

The wind blew gently as they stood over the elevated ground facing the fields, Little Simba was running like a squirrel through the flowers and giggling. Eryna’s eyes were calm and contented, Renya too was looking down at him with a slightly perplexed look.

She finally broke the silence.

 

“He is not your son, Right?”

 

She had an element of confidence in her voice.

 

“Ha, how could he be,” Eryna’s lips formed into a smile.

 

“Then?”

 

“He came to me, He came to me when my dear ones left me When I had made up my mind to join them too,”

 

Eryna looked at Reyna with a deep gaze, A memory of the past flashed before her eyes when she spoke of it,

 

I woke up due to the strong smell of medicines in the air, I had no idea what had happened in the past few days, 

My vision wasn’t clear and the only thing I saw was the blurry white ceiling,

“Doctor! The patient woke up,”

Someone spoke sharply close to my ear that caused me to knit my eyebrows, The next moment someone opened my eyelids and flashed a light into my eyes.

I felt drowsy and lost consciousness, the next thing I remember was lying in a ward, I opened my eyes and looked around, at first I didn’t remember anything but slowly as  I regained my memories of the night, the first thing that came to my mind was Simba, I sat up in the bed and looked around but there was no sign of him. 

My heart sank and I got off the bed. The floor was ice cold but it didn't matter to me much.

 

I ran around and looked for Simba, but there was no sign of him. Finally, at the reception, there was a nurse, I rushed over to her and asked her.

 

“Excuse Me, can you tell me where I  can find a patient named Simba Garcia?” 

With a hopeful tone, I asked her.

 

“Let me check,”

She took a few seconds before shifting her gaze back at me.

 

“Sorry, there is no one by that name,”

 

“How is that possible, he should be here, he must be here, he too got in the accident with me,”

 

I didn’t know what I was muttering about until the receptionist spoke again.

 

“Accident?”

 

“Yes, we got into a car accident,”

 

“I thought that might help,”

 

“Let me check again, “

She looked at the screen again.

 

“There was a case of a car accident, and two patients were brought here,  One was Eryna Serena And  an unidentified kid, Are you looking for the kid?”

 

She asked.

 

“No! A man, a grown up- how is that possible.”

 

“Wait let me check it in the-”

The receptionist didn't complete her sentence but she got up and walked into the room behind her. It took her a few minutes before she came out with a file in her hand, 

 

“Simba Garcia? “ She asked me in an assuring voice.

 

“Yes, where is he?” 

 

“That- I am sorry. “ Her sorry filled gaze stared at me.

 

“Ha, what do you mean by sorry, please tell me where my husband is!” 

 

“He was already dead when he was brought here,”

 

She spoke lightly.

 

The fierce thunder of that night was nothing compared to the bolt that had struck me at that moment. My heart gave out a sharp sting which caused my breath to shorten. 

 

The girl who felt like she had the world in her grasp a few days ago was left alone in a dark space. The pain was too much to handle which caused her to faint right on the spot.

 

It was midnight when Eryna’s eyes opened, she was in the hospital bed, lying before an open window through which one could see the starry night, Like a soulless body Eryna got up and walked out of the door, her blank eyes that once had the light of the sun were as dark as the shades of night.

 

She dragged her body up to the building top through which the sky was visible, She stepped closer to the parapet, and stepped on it, 

From the tall hospital building the world below looked too small, Everything looked meaningless.  Eryna lifted her head to glance at the stars one last time, her eyes were determined, she had decided to end her life.

 

“I like them too, they are small and - and shiny,” 

 

A cute voice spoke from beside Eryna that made her look at the source.

A small kid about 3 years old was staring at the starry sky with his cute round eyes. He mumbled to himself.

 

“What are you doing up here?” Eryna spoke to him with caution.

 

“What are you doing here?”

 

“Are you looking for your Mommy too?”

Eryna knitted her eyebrows at his odd question and looked at him strangely.

 

His cute pink lips uttered those soft and harmless words, Eryna didn’t know how to answer him so she turned around.

 

“Ah- Huff,”

 

Eryna heard weird sounds from beside her which caused her to took at the kid again, She saw him trying to climb the parapet that Eryna stood on, She reflexively stopped him,

 

“Don’t!  you will fall off.”

“Then why are you standing there?”

He asked with a pouting face,

“I-I was looking at the stars,” Eryna didn’t want to pollute the kid's minds so she made up a lie.

 

“Then, I too want to see the stars from up there,”

 

“No go back, Go back to your Mom, She misses you,” Eryna wanted him to go away but he stood there with his round eyes staring at Eryna.

 

“I know, I miss her too. That is why I want to look at her from up there so I will be more  close to her,”

 

His clueless words struck Eryna’s heart, 

 

‘What was the meaning behind those words?’

Her suicidal thoughts were replaced by this question.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“The lady downstairs told me that my mommy became a star so I came here to see her.”

 

Eryna, whose heart was blank a few moments ago, stung in pain when she saw the little kid, looking for his mother.

Eryna stepped down and cautiously approached the kid and touched his face.

 

“What is your name little one?”

 

“My name is Simba,”

“Wha-”

Eryna lost her words, she didn’t believe her ears.

 

“Are you telling the truth? Is that your name?”

“Uhmm,”

He gave an energetic nod,

 

Eryna’s fingers caressed his chubby face where there was a small scratch.

 

“So you never lied to me,- You came back to me,” Eryna whispered to herself.

 Her lovely eyes stared into the pair of innocent eyes, and then averted her gaze back to the sky.

 

“Which one do you think is your mother?” Eryna asked,

 

“Mmm…”

He made a sound with his lips and finally pointed at a star far away from others. It was bright and beautiful.

 

“Haha, your mommy sure is beautiful,”

 

“Who were you looking at? Did you find him?”

Eryna was caught off guard at the kid’s words and she looked at him with a blank gaze for a few moments.

 

“Mine? I have it right here,” 

 

She finally smiled and pointed at his small nose that was pink because of the cold.

 

He giggled at her words.

 

 “Another person died in that accident, It was his mother,” Eryna replied to Renya.

“I adopted him,”