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126
Mu Chen
Student @ University of Abuja
Student @ University of Abuja
The Space We Leave Behind
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We all have an empty chair somewhere.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">Maybe yours belongs to a person.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">Maybe it belongs to a dream you stopped talking about because saying it out loud started to sound foolish.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">Maybe it belongs to an old version of yourself that disappeared so quietly that even you didn't notice when it left.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">Mine was in my mother's living room.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">For years, I thought the chair was waiting for my father.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">That evening, sitting in it, I realized I might have been wrong.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">Maybe it had been waiting for me.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">Not to bring anyone back.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">Not to forgive anyone.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">Not even to understand what happened.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">Just to finally notice how long I had been walking around it.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">The next morning, I woke up early.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">The house was quiet.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">My mother was still asleep.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">I went into the living room.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">The chair was still beside the window.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">I looked at it.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">Then I moved it.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">Not outside.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">Not into storage.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">Just a few inches to the left.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">Enough to let the sunlight fall differently across the floor.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">And strangely, that was all.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">No tears.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">No revelation.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">No feeling that my life had suddenly changed.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">Just a chair in a slightly different place.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">I made breakfast and went about my day.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">By evening, I had almost forgotten I moved it.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">Almost.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">Sometimes, I think that is how certain things leave us.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">Not with a goodbye.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">Not with a final conversation.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">Not with the kind of ending stories teach us to expect.</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">They simply become a little less important each morning...</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">until one day you realize the room has changed,</p><p style="text-align: justify; "><br/></p><p style="text-align: justify; ">and you can't remember exactly when you stopped waiting.</p>
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