Her home.

How quickly, she thought— how indifferently— does time turn. Years pass like the grains of sand slipping through her fingertips. A cool breeze carries them out to the blue sea, where they are forever lost. From the threshold, the girl sees and hears the waves froth and break, and is reminded of days long gone. She yearns for the past and grieves the future.

It is only after a long while that she sets foot inside. Her steps leave traces in the sand, mingling with countless others who have come before her. Nature has made the house her own after the girl had abandoned it. Sand sits piled high, nearly engulfing the door to her old room. The sunlight streams through broken windows, dappling on the dunes inside. Her face glows amber in the diffused light as shimmering, hot tears slide down her cheeks. She climbs the mound of sand, feeling the prickling grains sink and shift beneath her hands.

Looking around, she finds nothing. The desert has swallowed every corner of the place.

And amid the sudden stillness, she finally understands. There is nothing left for her here. What once so familiar now feels so far-away. So foreign. Her heart beats with the same silence it has always known.

And it always will.