Chapter 15
398words
Lena found her former guide and friend, Hassan. He'd aged considerably, but his smile remained warm and genuine when he saw her.
"I knew you would return someday," he said.
They skipped the small talk. Lena explained her purpose—she needed to visit the hillside where it had happened.
"That place is nearly buried by wind and sand. They say some landmines remain uncleared." Hassan frowned.
"I must go." Lena's tone left no room for argument.
Hassan studied her face for a long moment, then sighed and nodded. "All right. I'll take you. Liam was my friend too."
The evening before their departure, Lena received an unexpected video call from Alex.
On screen, he looked a decade older. His once-perfect hair stood disheveled, his eyes bloodshot, his pristine apartment now resembling a junkyard behind him.
"I saw your posts," his voice rasped, "those photos and captions... about Syria, about a photographer..."
He paused, seemingly gathering courage for his next words.
"That person... it's him, isn't it? Liam?"
"Yes." Lena answered simply.
"So from the beginning... from the very first day, when you looked at me, you were seeing him?" Alex let out a sound between laughter and a sob. "I was just a fucking replacement?"
"Yes."
"Then why didn't you tell me?! Why did you say yes when I proposed?!" he roared, losing all composure.
Lena studied the face on screen—once the object of her calculated affection, now twisted with pain—and felt, for the first time, a profound and condescending pity.
"Tell you what, exactly?" she asked softly. "Tell you who Liam was? Tell you he died before my eyes while trying to expose war crimes?"
Her voice suddenly hardened.
"Should I tell you that the world he died for is just those 'geopolitical risks' you skim in the Wall Street Journal over breakfast? That the bloody hole in his chest is just another 'risk factor' in your investment portfolio?"
"Alex, we live in completely different universes. I never expected you to understand mine because," she emphasized each word, "you simply cannot."
A long, deathly silence followed. Then came a loud crash, as if something had been violently smashed. The video signal died instantly.
Lena switched off her phone, her face blank. The reckoning was complete.
