It was twelve o’clock at night — a cold,
dull night with no events, no news,
and no sign of life in this old neighborhood.
No laughter, no tears, nothing but a painful silence — the very essence of nothingness.
A feeling too vague for the mind to grasp, yet so heavy that it filled her chest.
A feeling without feeling.
She desperately tried to prove that her mind still held stories worth telling — that it hadn’t lost its spark. But that mind…
it had seen too much, lived what it shouldn’t have lived,
and carried memories that left no calm space for imagination.
Had it surrendered to the bitter truth?
To the weary memories that pushed it toward isolation?
She closed her draft document, took a deep breath,
wore a light coat over her pajamas, and stepped outside for a walk in her quiet seaside village.
She had chosen this faraway village for a reason — where, at midnight, she could walk without a headscarf. No one was out.
No one at all.
People appeared only with the first breeze of dawn… but now?
The streets were utterly empty.
The village was inhabited mostly by the elderly.
If she ever saw a young person — or even a child — it felt like spotting a rare creature.
When she visited the small shops for daily supplies, they stared at her as if she had stepped out of a fairy tale — a princess who escaped her book, or a witch who stayed young by devouring humans.
She walked on, fighting the cold and her fear of darkness, heading toward the only thing that still made sense: the sea and the eerie calmness surrounding it…
a silence foretelling misfortune.
She reached the pitch-black horizon — the sky’s darkness mirrored in the water below, creating a double abyss. Clouds deepened both shades into suffocating fear.
A sudden urge to touch the water overtook her.
She stepped forward in disbelief, entering the freezing sea, shivering from cold and fear…
yet something unseen urged her to keep going.
The water reached her waist when she saw it — a massive, glowing structure unlike any vessel she had seen. Not here. Not anywhere in the world.
She should have run back home, shut herself under her blankets and slept…
but this was the night she had given up on life — the night she felt the terrifying pull of disappearing from this world.
So she climbed the long metallic stairs leading up to a closed, electronic door.
The moment she laid her hand on it, the door opened from within.
Warmth enveloped her instantly.
Comforting warmth. But the moment was short-lived — the door shut behind her with a sharp sound. Locked.
She walked forward, following the warmth that began lulling her into a sudden desire for sleep. Maybe this was just a dream…
one that would end soon, returning her to her desk after a short nap.
Then she saw it — a grand door like the entrance of a palace.
Would it open if she touched it?
It did. And it closed again behind her.
It didn’t matter.
Nothing mattered that night.
She stepped inside — a home.
The exact home she had wished for since childhood.
That warmth… that beauty… that impossible feeling of belonging.
And just like that, her mind forced her to remember why she had tried to escape reality tonight — to write her past and its lingering wounds.
Tears fell uncontrollably.
She walked closer to the source of heat…
and there she found a white bird, its wing injured and stained with blood.
She approached carefully, held it in her hands, sat down, and rested her back against a chair.
For the first time ever, she felt no fear — not of the strange bird, nor of the blood dripping from its feathers.
She began telling the bird about one of her heartbreaks. As she spoke, a tear fell onto its head…
The bird trembled violently, slipping from her hands to the floor — and her body froze in terror.
Human arms… then legs… appeared.
And within seconds, a young man lay there — tall, broad-shouldered, with skin pale as moonlight and jet-black hair. He was in pain, bleeding from his left shoulder. A weak voice escaped his lips:
“No… don’t be afraid of me. Please… I need your help.”
She sat on the chair, unable to comprehend whether this was a dream or a piece of the terrifying night she was living. Help? What kind of help could she offer in such a deserted place? She was in the middle of the sea… aboard a colossal, hidden vessel.
Then he raised his head — and opened his eyes.
Purple.
Eyes surrounded by long black lashes — eyes so beautiful that she fell in love at first sight. She whispered “Oh God…” under her breath, unable to look away.
He looked shocked as well — yet his plea for help did not fade.
And in that moment… she realized this night was not about running away from life.
It was about finding a secret that could bring her back to it.
WEIN 