Chapter 1 A letter

Verona

The graveyard was silent at this hour, the kind of silence that should send chills down my spine… but it didn’t. I just stood there, staring blankly at my grandmother’s headstone, my feet rooted to the ground as if leaving would mean losing her all over again.

She was the only person I had left.

And now she was gone.

My whole world felt hollow without her.

My shoulders trembled, tears slipping down faster than I could wipe them away.

“It’s been six months, Nana,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “I wish you were still here. I… I miss you.”

But of course, no answer came. What was I even expecting?

I sniffled, swallowing the hard lump in my chest. “I know I promised you I’d be strong, Nana… but the truth is, I’m not. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do anymore.” My voice broke as I tightened my fist around her pendant. “So please… guide me.”

The pendant was her most prized possession—though I never really understood why. On the night she died, she pressed it into my hands and made me promise to keep it with me always. And I did. It was the only thing that made me feel like a piece of her was still here.

I pressed it against my chest and released a shaky sigh.

“I love you. Always,” I whispered, finally forcing myself to turn away.

The evening air was colder now, brushing harshly against my skin as I walked toward the gates. The cemetery guard glanced at me and shook his head.

“I told you not to come this late,” he called out.

I didn’t answer. Not one word. He clicked his tongue in annoyance, but I kept walking.

People like him would never understand what it felt like—to lose the only family you ever had… to be completely alone in the world. No parents. No friends. Just a rundown house, an old car, and a cat waiting for me. But on second thought, he was a security guard in a cemetery, he could even have it worse than me.

Speaking of which… Katara is going to be furious when I finally get home. It’s way past her dinner time.

I wiped my face with the back of my hand and headed toward my car.

I slid into the driver’s seat, shutting the door and turned the key.

Nothing.

I tried again.

Still nothing.

By the fifth attempt, frustration bubbled over.

“You stupid thing, work!” I yelled, hitting the steering wheel.

Of course it didn’t.

Even my old car had decided it was done with me.

I hated my life sometimes.

Maybe I should just listen to Nana… like she said in the letter.

The one she left for me.

The one she told me to read the moment she was buried.

But the problem was—I didn’t really understand what she meant.

It had always been just the two of us. No one else. No family. No relatives. No friends.

Yet in the letter, she wrote about a friend... someone I had never even heard of.

A name that meant absolutely nothing to me.

So why did she want me to find this person?

I hadn’t tried. First, I told myself I was too grown to chase strangers. Then the plane ticket was too expensive. Then… well, excuses were easier than facing the unknown.

But now… staring at the pathetic state of my life, realizing nothing was ever going to get better if I stayed where I was…

Maybe I should finally listen.

Maybe I should try to find that person Nana trusted so much.

But what if I spent all I had on a flight, and the person didn’t even want to see me?

What then?

Because truth was—I was broke.

Broke in every sense of the word.

I sighed and tried the engine again. Still no response.

Defeated, I slumped forward, resting my forehead against the steering wheel.

“Please just start,” I whispered to the car. “I promise I’ll take you to the junk shop soon…”

But who was I kidding?

Just then, a knock sounded on my car window. I straightened quickly and found the guard standing there. I rolled the window down and he leaned slightly to look at me.

“If your car’s broken down, you can just take a cab, you know,” he said.

“Yeah, I guess. But I can’t leave the car here, you know? What if you don’t pay attention and someone steals it?” I asked, my voice cracking a little.

The look he gave me before answering made me laugh even when I didn’t want to.

“Trust me,” he said flatly, “no one is stealing this garbage.”

I burst out laughing—and God, I needed that.

“Thank you… and I’m sorry I didn’t answer you earlier,” I said.

He scratched the back of his head. “I know. Just stop coming here late, ma’am.”

I pushed my door open and stepped out, rolling the window back up after me.

“Well, this is the last time we’ll meet… for now,” I told him.

He simply nodded. “Just go home. It’s getting late,” he said, already walking away.

He looked like he was in his forties. People that age didn’t have the patience for small talk.

I didn’t either even though I am in my twenties… or maybe it was just because I had no one left to talk to.

The only person who ever listened was gone.

I walked toward the main road and waited for a cab.

---

By the time I got home, I tossed the car keys onto the small table. Katara’s soft purr filled the room before she leapt into my arms.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, kissing her head as she licked my cheek. “I should’ve come back earlier to feed you.”

After giving her food and lighting the chimney, I settled into my grandmother’s rocking chair with Katara curled in my lap. I unfolded the letter again.

Nana had told me to find a man named Evan Luther.

Her friend.

Someone who would “lead” me.

Lead me where? None of it made sense.

But if this was what Nana wanted…

Then I would do it.

Her handwriting circled the name clearly,

and beneath it, the address of this mysterious Evan Luther.

But then a thought hit me, who would take care of Katara while I was gone? She only knew me, and I had no one else to leave her with. Friends weren’t an option; I had never managed to make any.

Growing up, I had been called a freak, bullied and laughed at by kids who didn’t understand me. That loneliness shaped me, taught me to retreat, and now it felt like a part of who I was.

I ran my fingers through Katara’s sleek black fur as she twitched her tail against my arm.

“I guess… I’ll have to take you with me,” I muttered, more to myself than to her. “But I really hope this man we’re going to doesn’t toss both of us out the second we step in his house.”

I exhaled, shaking my head.

Damn… I couldn’t believe I was really doing this.