Ephemeral Echoes

AFTER

8 months later...

It was Rae's 17th birthday, but there was no cake adorning the table, only a silent emptiness celebrating.

After Rae returned to the future, she stopped seeking information about George, Edward, Emma, Billy, and everyone she knew.

Up until that day, Rae hadn't met Jeremiah, even though she promised to meet him.

Places like Garraway's Coffee House no longer held her attention, almost as if she were trying to forget it all.

Because every attempt to trace those memories only brought forth deep wounds, she decided to let it be buried.

Suddenly, a soft knock echoed at the door. Rae opened it without surprise, assuming it was just housekeeping.

However, what she encountered was an empty and quiet scene.

"Hello?" Rae called out, trying to figure out who had disrupted her peace.

When it seemed there was no answer, Rae was about to close the door when her eyes caught sight of a letter lying in front of it.

She picked up the letter, feeling like she had known it before. As she opened it, a sense of wonder crept into her heart.

It was the same letter she had read before, the last letter from John Grosleigh to Jeanne.

"This must be from Finn, but why is he giving this to me?" Rae wondered aloud.

Rae hadn't thought that Jeanne Ailedro was her mother since she returned to the future.

But now, her certainty was shaken after receiving the letter again. She began to think that her mother might be Jeanne.

"Jeanne Ailedro, Yennifer Cordelia." If she read Ailedro backward, it formed the word "Ordelia. Jeanne Ordelia. Yenne Cordelia. Yennifer Cordelia."

She knew it seemed forced, but hope lingered within her that her mother was a time traveler, and one day, she would meet her.

Rae put the letter back into its envelope and noticed a small key also inserted inside.

The key had a unique shape, like the letter 'L,' with the long part serving as a handle and the short end having small teeth and a rounded tip.

"Weird," Rae thought.

Then she had to decide whether to uncover the truth behind all this again or not. But at that moment, Rae realized that life had to move forward.

She had to forget the past, and perhaps this letter was a reminder that she should revisit the places she had once visited, remembering them for the last time.

Rae decided to undertake this journey in her recently purchased private car, given how frugal she had become living in London.

***

When Rae stopped at Garraway's Coffee House, she was somewhat disappointed.

They had rebuilt the shop, and the building was vastly different from the last time she had visited.

The Garraway's she knew was a square-shaped building with yellow paint and brick atop, with many windows.

But now, the building was covered in white paint, and the windows were much larger, three times the size they used to be.

When Rae arrived in Peckham, she drove her car very slowly because she couldn't find the specific places—Aunt Bertha's house, Emma's house, and Mary's house. All of their houses seemed to have been rebuilt.

Lastly, Rae visited Beckenham, to George's house. Once again, there were no signs guiding her to her lover's house.

It turns out that it's not just humans who can change over time, our places, which hold thousands of memories, can also change. Only one thing is constant and unchanging, my love for you.