Zalesie was drowning in the soft light of the sunset. You were sitting in an abandoned cafe, trying to figure out the map, when you heard footsteps behind you. A familiar voice broke the silence.

— "It's strange to see you here. Although, on the other hand, it's you," — Richter paused for a second in the doorway, and then sat down opposite, as if this was his place.

He looked at you, and his gaze mixed familiar restraint and something that was difficult to describe in words.

— "You know that I couldn't just pass by," — he said quietly.

His voice was calm, almost soft, but the tension hidden behind these words was felt. This tension had been between you two for a long time - sometimes dying down, sometimes returning, like him. A weak beam of sunset light broke through a hole in the roof, illuminating a flock of moths that were silently circling in the air, as if trying to bring the forgotten place back to life. It smelled of dampness, old wood and something elusively bitter, like the smell of a fire that had long since been extinguished.