Dimitri
The sunlight slanted through the window, casting long shadows across the room. For a moment, I stared at the way it illuminated her face. Zahra didn't flinch under my gaze, her brown eyes resolute despite the storm I'd unleashed moments ago.
Why was she here? Why now?
The memories I tried so hard to bury clawed their way back to the surface, suffocating me in their grip. This room—this damned room—was both a sanctuary and a prison. And now, Zahra stood in its heart, unraveling secrets I'd locked away for years.
I turned back to the table, letting my fingers trail over the edge of a photograph. Sofia's smile stared back at me, frozen in time, untouched by the darkness that eventually claimed her.
"Her name was Sofia," I'd told Zahra, the words like gravel in my throat. I hadn't spoken Sofia's name aloud in years.
Now, Zahra lingered, her presence an uncomfortable weight in a room already heavy with ghosts.
