After the tenth husband disappeared, I stopped crying.
Not because I was strong.
But because I was empty.
Ten men had entered my life. Ten men had called me their wife. Ten men had looked into my eyes like they knew me better than I knew myself.
And all of them disappeared.
All of them left the same thing behind.
A black key.
Number 1… 2… 3… 4… until 10.
I placed all the keys on the table in a straight line and stared at them for hours. The metal reflected the light like small pieces of night.
That was when I noticed something strange.
Behind each number, there was a small symbol carved into the metal. So small that I had never seen it before.
On key number 1, there was a small circle.
On key number 2, a triangle.
On key number 3, a vertical line.
On key number 4, a square.
Different symbols. Not random.
I felt my heart beating faster.
"This is not coincidence," I whispered to myself.
I took a notebook and started drawing the symbols in order:
Circle. Triangle. Line. Square. Cross. Star. Wave. Eye. Door. Spiral.
When I looked at them all together, I felt cold.
It looked like a map.
Or maybe a code.
That night, I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking about the men. Their words. Their eyes. Their strange questions.
"If I disappear, will you wait for me?"
"Do you remember me?"
"Have we met before?"
"Do you believe in fate?"
They all asked similar things.
Why?
I held key number 1 in my hand and suddenly remembered something Daniel said:
"I wonder in how many lives I have already lost you."
At that moment, a terrifying idea crossed my mind:
What if this didn't start in this life?
I quickly put the keys back in the box and closed it. But as I turned off the light, I heard something.
A small metallic sound.
I turned back slowly.
The box… was slightly open.
And I was sure I had closed it...