Before he knew it, morning had come. Once again, he found himself in his bed, staring at the ceiling, starting to wake up. After running away the day before he didn’t remember anything else, he ran away and woke up the next day in his bed.

  This time, he wasn’t wearing any of yesterday’s clothes, he was wearing a pajama set that was gifted to him 6 years ago on his birthday.

  It felt harder than ever before to get up, he almost did not want to get up at all, he felt it was okay even if he spent the entire day rotting away in his bed. Despite that, a small while later, he reluctantly got up and started changing his clothes.

  The floor was covered in shirts and pants, the drawers and closet were wide open. The room was messier than ever before. Awkwardly, he started cleaning up, picking up the clothes and putting them in their place.

  After cleaning up, he picked out the fourth day’s outfit, three more days and the fare would be over, making way for his birthday. From the third day onward, the outfits stayed the same with only small differences distinguishing them, the embroidery, the color, the style.

  Once he had gotten dressed, he walked into the kitchen but unlike the days before, it was empty this time, Liu was nowhere to be seen.

  Maybe she went home.

  Finally establishing that he was alone, he grabbed the ingredients and utensils and started to cook the same eggs, bacon, and avocado. To his surprise, the taste was nearly identical to the breakfast Liu cooked, perhaps he remembered it somehow.

  I wonder when she’ll come.

  But to his disappointment, Liu never came, he put his shoes on, headed out the door, but Liu still did not show up so he decided to stay home for a little longer, in case she turned up.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  The apartment, especially the living room and the kitchen, were filled with Liu’s stuff. Pictures of her, old drawings and flower bouquets picked out by her, old notes she wrote, even her journal, her guitar, her violin, her vinyls and CDs, posters, sculptures.

  Everywhere he looked, he was reminded of her and looking around the apartment, it felt like she was going to bust through the door like she always does and pester him about going to the fare.

  Her perfumes stared at him.

  Her paintings locked eyes with him.

  Everything in the apartment reminded him of her.

  Everything in the apartment gave the impression that Liu would come any moment, that she would open the door when he least expected it and drag him away.

  And thus, he waited, and waited, and waited, and waited.

  Seconds turned to minutes, minutes to hours, and before he realized it, three hours had passed. Liu never showed up.

  Maybe I’ll meet her at the fare, maybe she’s already there.

  The fare seemed less crowded than the previous day, not as many parents, not as many children, not as many couples, not as many people.

  The night would come to set on the fare and the crickets started singing, yet Liu was nowhere to be found. Defeated, he went to eat something at the same stand, and when the man taking orders saw him, he repeated his order back to him and told him to wait.

  Two special hot dogs, and two cans of soda.

  And he waited.

  After finishing his food, he ran into Miss Kwan who was also coming to the same stand to eat.

  “Good evening, Miss Kwan.” he greeted as he passed by her, not stopping to chat.

  “Good evening Aang.” Miss Kwan replied politely before sitting down and waiting for her order.

  As he headed home, from the fare’s entrance, a familiar voice shouted his name.

  “HEY, AANG!” A girl’s voice echoed across the fare.

  Liu finally showed up. Worried, he scolded her, how could she had gone off without telling him anything! How irresponsible could she be?!

  “You are not the same kid from 5 years ago!” One last scolding ran from Aang’s mouth before they headed towards home.