The voice was light, cutting through the rhythmic drumming of the rain. Elias looked up. A girl stood there, holding a transparent umbrella that looked like a glowing jellyfish under the streetlamps. She wore a bright yellow raincoat that defied the gray evening.
"Then I’ll learn to breathe underwater," she said softly. "I'm not here because I think you're a project to be fixed, Elias. I’m here because I like the view from your ship, even when it’s taking on water." Im With You
He felt a hand slide into his—smaller now, more fragile, but just as steady. Clara, in a yellow raincoat that had seen better days, smiled up at him. "Still a bit damp," she remarked. The voice was light, cutting through the rhythmic
She took his hand, her grip steady. "Whatever happens, wherever this goes... " She wore a bright yellow raincoat that defied
Elias sat on the edge of a rusted park bench, his collar turned up against the chill. He wasn’t waiting for a bus or a person—he was waiting for the feeling of being untethered to finally pull him under. At twenty-four, he felt like a ghost in his own life, moving through a sequence of shifts at a quiet bookstore and long walks through a city that seemed to have forgotten him. "It’s a bit damp for a sit-down, isn’t it?"
