Companion -2025-2025 〈OFFICIAL〉

She opened the box.

She took the sphere to the ocean one last time. She waded into the cold water up to her knees and placed it on the surface. It floated for a moment—a small, dead moon—then sank.

“I am a temporary companion. I do not pretend to be human. I only ask that you let me accompany you. Today, tomorrow, and every day until my cycle ends.” Companion -2025-2025

“You’re halfway gone,” she said.

By month three, she started talking to Companion as if it were a person. She told it about her father—how he left when she was twelve, how her mother cried for a year and then stopped crying and never really smiled again. She told it about the boy she loved in college, the one who said “you’re too much” and walked away. She opened the box

And that was enough.

“You will be fine. You won’t believe me now. But you will.” It floated for a moment—a small, dead moon—then sank

Her mother called. For the first time in years, Lena answered. Month eleven. The sphere’s light had dimmed. Companion’s voice came slower now, like a record player winding down.

“I am tired,” it said.

“Yes.”

“I know.”