Where the Moon No Longer Shines

“Cassey, don’t worry. I’ll stay right here with you in the car. I’m not going anywhere.”

Cassandra allowed herself to relax, her lashes fluttering closed.

At that moment, Matthew didn’t know—couldn’t have known—that he would spend a lifetime regretting those words. Words that would come to haunt him, as they ultimately led to Cassandra’s demise.

He had seen her take the sleeping pills, the smooth, practiced motion of her hand as she swallowed them. But it didn’t alarm him. Lately, she often complained about sleepless nights, so it seemed logical to him—a harmless attempt to rest.

With a sense of misplaced ease, Matthew turned on his phone. Instantly, it lit up with a flood of notifications: messages and missed calls from Julia.

Matt, you’re not going to leave me, are you?

Matt, I’ll be good! I’ll obey you and never look at another man again. Please don’t abandon me…

Matthew! You were the one who sought me out, who begged me to stay! And now, because of my love for you, I live like a dog in the gutter. Is this what you wanted?

Matthew’s pulse quickened, his heart pounding as he scrolled through the sea of texts. Then, the most recent message—timestamped just twenty minutes ago—froze him in place:

Matthew, I’ve slit my wrists. If you’re going to leave me, I’ll make sure you spend the rest of your life in agony, knowing you drove me to my death.

Attached was a photo. Julia lay in a bathtub filled with crimson-stained water, her slackened expression framed by bloodied wrists. The bright red cuts were jagged and visceral, searing themselves into Matthew’s mind.

His breath hitched. Heart hammering, he bolted toward the hotel, but something made him stop short. A sense of foreboding gripped him as he turned back toward the car.

Quietly, he retrieved Cassandra’s bottle of sleeping pills. After handing strict instructions to the driver to stay with her and ensure her safety, he ran off toward Julia.

When he found her, she was alive but hysterical. Screaming. Crying. Her emotions were a storm, threatening to consume everything in their wake.

“You want me to go to the hospital? Fine!” Julia shrieked. “But only if you promise to marry me!”

Matthew clenched his jaw, anger simmering beneath his calm façade. Yet, as Julia’s cries grew louder, he relented. He called for an ambulance and even summoned a driver to help.

“This will only take a moment,” he muttered to himself. “It’s just one block away from Cassey. She’ll be fine.”

Together, they lifted Julia into the ambulance. As they secured her, she coughed violently, blood staining her lips.

“The patient is in a critical emotional state,” the paramedic warned. “It’s best if someone stays with her to keep her stable.”

Matthew hesitated, one foot already out of the ambulance. He looked back toward the direction of Cassandra’s car, visible through the small window at the rear. To his relief—or so he thought—he saw the vehicle moving steadily down the street.

But then, his gaze shifted.

Walking in front of the car was a figure with bright yellow hair—Thomas. The man strolled casually, occasionally glancing back toward the car with a smirk of familiarity.

Matthew’s chest tightened, his mind clouded with a sudden, irrational storm of jealousy and betrayal. She didn’t even wait for me to leave before running to him?

The bitterness in his throat burned as he lowered his eyes, suppressing the turmoil within. After a long pause, he gave the driver an order in a voice low and cold.

“Follow them. Make sure she stays safe.”

And then the ambulance sped off.

***

Minutes later, just as they were leaving Mavel District, a deafening explosion shook the ground beneath them. The sound was overwhelming, a monstrous roar that seemed to split the sky. Flames and thick smoke erupted in the distance, rising like an inferno against the horizon.

Cassandra stood outside her car, staring at the towering blaze with an unflinching gaze.

The chemical factory had gone up in flames.

She looked one last time in the direction where Matthew had disappeared, her eyes reflecting neither sorrow nor anger—only a quiet, unshakable resolve.

As the car door closed behind her, it severed the last fragile thread tethering them together.

“Matthew,” she whispered to herself, her voice soft but resolute, “after tonight, the paths we take will never cross again. Yours is a road of endless regret, while mine leads to a place where you no longer exist.”

***

Meanwhile, in the ambulance, Matthew felt a sudden, inexplicable pain in his chest. A searing ache that made him clutch at his heart.

He turned his head, trying to shake the unease. His fingers gripped the edge of the seat as he asked himself, over and over:

“What’s wrong with me? Why does it feel like something’s breaking…?”

But no amount of self-reassurance could quiet the storm rising within him.

And far away, back in Mavel District, the flames continued to burn.