That day, when we made our promise by the sea, neither of us knew I’d be dead before nightfall. Maybe—if we did—he wouldn’t have asked, or I wouldn’t have agreed so quickly. Now, I was a ghost. I wished I wasn’t.

Regrets. They said you couldn’t go to heaven if you still had regrets. Now, the innocent promise between two children kept me trapped in a world which quickly lost its beauty after I died.

Once—just once—I left my place by the sea to visit him. He was smiling when I saw him… at an unfamiliar girl with large, vacant eyes. She was pretty.

The promised day arrived.

I didn’t think he’d come. Holding his hand was the girl from before, and I smiled bitterly to myself. She still looked like a doll.

Before I turned to leave the world forever, I watched as he stood and kneeled before her. He brought out the ring that was supposed to be mine. My tears mixed with the sea as he fulfilled our promise with another girl. 

“Will you marry me?”

I closed my eyes.

“Ilara?”

I opened my eyes and he was in front of me.

That was my name.