I never meant to stay here. I came to pack up her things, to close the door on a life that no longer exists. But when I step into the apartment, I feel her everywhere. Her laughter echoes in the silence. Her perfume still lingers. I swear I see her in the corners of the room, her voice calling my name. But she’s gone. She has to be. Except, sometimes... I’m not so sure. As I move through the space we once shared, the line between grief and specter starts to blur. And the more I linger, the more I I haven’t left either. We’re both still here. Stuck in this place where time doesn’t matter, where memory becomes everything. I can’t move on. Not when she’s still here with me. But I don’t know how much longer I can stay. What Stays Behind is a short story with themes of grief and death.