“I’m looking for Doña Clara,” I managed to say, feeling a lump rise in my throat. “She used to live here.”

Her expression softened. “I’m sorry,” she said gently. “She moved out over a year ago.”

The ground seemed to shift beneath my feet. “Do you know where she went?”

The woman shook her head. “I really don’t. I bought this house from someone else. I’m not sure who she was.”

I thanked her, retreating back to my car in a daze. My mind struggled to process the new reality: Doña Clara, the woman I had promised to support in Marina’s memory, had vanished without a trace.

The drive back to the hotel was a blur. I barely noticed the vibrant sunset over the horizon or the quaint charm of the village. My mind was consumed with questions. Why hadn’t she told me she was moving? Why had she stopped communicating altogether?

Once back in the solitude of my hotel room, I scrolled through my phone, searching desperately for any contact detail I might have overlooked. I found an old number for a neighbor, a woman Marina used to mention in passing, and dialed it without hesitation.

After several rings, she answered. Her voice was warm, and I could hear the faint sound of children playing in the background. “Hello?”

I introduced myself and quickly explained the situation. There was a pause, and I could sense her hesitation. “Oh, Roberto,” she finally said, her tone shifting to one of sympathy. “I’m not sure how to tell you this.”

“Please,” I urged. “I need to know.”

She sighed, the sound heavy with regret. “Doña Clara passed away nearly a year ago. It was sudden. A heart attack.”

I felt as though the air had been knocked from my lungs. “But… the money…”

She hesitated again. “I think her niece was handling her affairs after she passed. She must have kept the account open.”

Her words echoed in my mind, a cold realization settling over me. For nearly a year, I had been sending money into a void, unaware that the person I intended to help was no longer there to receive it.

I thanked the neighbor, ending the call and sinking onto the hotel bed. Grief washed over me anew, mingling with a sense of betrayal and absurdity. Marina’s mother was gone, and with her, the last tangible connection to the woman I had loved so deeply.

As I lay there, staring at the ceiling, I knew that this unexpected trip had indeed forced my eyes open. The ritual that I had clung to, believing it kept Marina’s memory alive, had become an empty gesture, a comfort I wielded against the truth of her absence.

The next morning, I stood by the ocean, letting the waves crash around my feet. The village, with its quiet beauty and hidden truths, had given me something I hadn’t anticipated: the possibility of closure, not through the act of giving, but in letting go.

For the first time in years, I allowed myself to breathe deeply, feeling the weight of loss finally begin to lift. And as I turned away from the sea, I whispered a silent goodbye, not only to Marina but to the part of myself that had been trapped in the past.