Not Yet Home

He wakes in a perfect land far from anything he remembers.

The world is light and orderly, impossibly calm, a beautiful escape untouched by pain or consequence. He does not know how he arrived, only that something essential has been stripped away. Memory feels distant. Emotion lingers where it should have faded. And despite the peace surrounding him, he cannot shake the sense that he is not meant to want anything here.

Love does not end just because the world is quiet.

His wife remains just be...