Sleep came in fragment.Ava lay awake long after midnight, the ceiling above her bed and empty canvas for shadows to dance across.Every time she closed her eyes,she saw the sculpture herself, carved in raw stone_locked in a moment of reaching.she felts it's cold skin beneath her fingertips again,and ELisa's voice:I've been haunted by you.
She told herself it was absurd.Artists were dramatic by nature.Obsession was their trade.But this didn't feel like performance. It felt.... honest.Terrifyingly.
By morning, she had made herself two promises:first,that she would focus on her current gallery assignment,second,that she would not think about Elias Vale again, she broke the second promise before her first cup of coffee.
Her phone buzzed, as she sat at the dining table, pouring over a list of upcoming exhibits, it was a message from a blocked number.
"The sculpture breathes differently at dusk. Come see".
No name. No address. But she knew exactly who it was.
.
She didn't respond.
She stared at the message for nearly ten minutes before deleting it. Then she shut off her phone entirely.
But by late afternoon, her resolve have eroded,she found herself drawn back to cathedral studio, the name written neatly in her planner as though it belonged there, just another appointment. Rationally, she had no reason to return professionally, she could justify it as interest in a rising artist. Personally..... It was the unknown that clawed her.
What was it about Elias Vale that had opened something inside her, a hunger, a void ....
The studio was just as she remembered it.the looming Gothic facade, the sharp scent of rain on old stone.this time, she knocked. once. Twice
The door creaked open without a sound.
Elias appeared on top of the steps, bare foot this time,in black jeans and a sleeveless linen shirt dusted with clay. His arms were marked with pale. Smears of sculpture dust, and beneath them, veins and muscle stood out like a second sculpture beneath skin.
"I hope you'd come,"he said simply.
I shouldn't have.
"But you did".
He stepped aside, and she entered .
The studio was alive. The soft him of music _strings,cello,something mournful_filled the air. Light streamed through stained glass, casting fragments of color across unfinished forms. New pieces stood were empty floor had been yesterday _twisted torsos,hollow eyes, limbs frozen in desperate motion.
He led her down the spiral stairs again. As they walked, he spoke as if continuing a conversation they hadn't started.
"I dream in Stone.not just ideas_full shape, volumes, sometimes they scream at me, demand to be made. "sometimes they whisper and dussappear ".
Ava said nothing. Her eyes were on the floor, on his hands, on the space between them.
" I don't usually let people down here,"he continued. "this place ise peeled open, it's not curated for guest".
"then why me? "
"Because you don't flinch ".
The main chamber opened like the hollow chest of a cathedral, ribbed with steam beams and stone aches.
This time, the sculpture of her stood uncovered,light catching the edge of her sculpted collar bone. There was something different about it,though_something newly refined, has if he had worked on it since her last visit. She approached it slowly.
"you've changed it ".
"yes".
"The neck. The shoulders. They are softer now".
"I saw something new in you last night. I sculpt what I feel, not just what I see".
She reached out.Her hand hovered inches from the stone.
"may I? "
Elias nodded .
She touched it. The coolness shocked her at first, but then she felt the faintest warmth breath. Was it real, or imagined? Her hand trailed down the cheekbone,across the shoulder,pausing over the sternum. Beneath the sculpture's breastbone was a crack _intetional, jagged, like lightning striking through marble.
"you broke it ".
"I had to.it was too perfect .it wasn't true".
"And now?"
"Now it's becoming ".
Ava turned to him. This is obsession.
He didn't deny it.
"I dreamt of your voice last night,"he said. "Not your words. Just the sound. A time like rain hitting glass".
"That's not normal".
"Neither it's truth".
The was silence between them. Heavy breathing.
Then suddenly, she laughed _a nervous sound barely above a whisper.
"what's funny?"Elias asked.
This. All of it.I came here telling myself I was just..... Curious. But I'm not. I'm not curious..I'm terrified ".
"of me?"
"No".she looked back at the sculpture."of what you see in me. Of what I see in you"
He took a slow step forward.
"I see beauty that's been taught to silence itself. I see longing dressed in restraint.I see a woman who's here told her feelings make her weak,and she believed it ".
Tears welled in her eyes without warning ⚠.
"You shouldn't say things like that ".
"Why not ?"
"Because you don't know me".
"I know enough ".
"Stop saying that ".
She turned away,blinking fast. He didn't follow immediately.
"I know you hate your birthday "he said. "That you haven't celebrated in five years. That you buy yourself white lilies on the anniversary of someone's death,but you've never told anyone who. I know your favourite colour is blie_gray_the color of the morning fog. And I know you feel safest when no one knows where you are".
She spun on him. "How do you know all this things ?"
"I pay attention ".
"that's not possible. I....."
"Do you want me to stop?"
The question hung like a blade.
Ava opened her mouth, but the word didn't come out.
Instead,she walked past him, deeper into the studio. Towards a corner were a smaller sculpture rested_a torso, split down the center. Inside, delicate wire work curled like Cain's, glowing faintly from a hidden bulb.
She reached out to it. "what's this one called.
"Exposure ".
"It's beautiful ".
"It's you".
She turned again.
"I'm leaving ".
" I won't stop you".
She hesitated. Then walked to the stairs. As she reached the base,he called softly.
"I won't chase you. But I will never forget you ".
She didn't look back.
Outside the city felt too loud. Her skin buzzed with residual electricity, the echo of stone, the weight of been seen. Truly seen.
She went home. Showered. Changed. Poured wine and tried to read,then gave up and stared at the window.
Later that night, she pulled her phone from the drawer.
She didn't call.
But she saved the message.
And beneath her breath, she whispered his name.
"Elias".keep on supporting me please 🙏🙏🙏🙏