Chapter One

Thalia regarded the enormous glass window in front of her with gloomy eyes. This particular table at The Silver Spoon restaurant was her favourite. 

The rain was coming down in torrents, and the air was chilling, but it was not as cold as her heart felt. She watched as the rain washed away a stain from the glass, and prayed she would simply vanish, and be carried away by the rain as well.

Drumming her fingers continuously on the table in a steady rhythm, she stared down the ominous object that had arrived at her apartment door that morning and destroyed her whole demeanour. The letter sat on the table in front of her, and she continued to just stare at it. Normally, she would have lit the letter on fire the moment she got it.

 They were from her stepfather.

It was always heartbreaking and bone-chilling to read, always the same vile content, so Thalia stopped reading them a few years ago. Clutching the crystal necklace she was wearing, her body shook. She wasn't crying, but it wasn't laughter. She didn't even know what it was.

Maybe she was finally going crazy.

Maybe it was a chill from her cold heart.

 Thalia rubbed the crystal necklace in a comforting manner. It was a beautiful aventurine necklace her mother had given her before she passed. The necklace was one of the most beautiful possessions she owned. The aventurine exuded an ethereal glow. Its polished surface shimmered with hues of vibrant green. The pretty green hues of the crystal resonated with her heart, reminding her of the boundless beauty of nature.

 It whispered tales of distant lands and whispered secrets of forgotten places, sparking a sense of wanderlust within her. The crystal seemed to hold within it a reservoir of hope and optimism as if it carried the dreams and aspirations of countless souls who had come before her. It'd been passed down from her great-grandmother down to her mother.

It reminded her of her mother. 

The aventurine crystal, with its enchanting beauty, became her steadfast companion in moments of uncertainty, a source of solace and strength. Solace and strength were what she desperately needed at that moment as she continued to stare at the ominous letter like staring at it would make it disappear along with all her problems. 

The warmth she'd felt was short-lived.

A text message from her stepfather made her pick up her phone.

 "I'm back," it said. 

Her entire universe collapsed.

Her palms began to perspire, and she felt her heart almost drop into her stomach. 

Her stepfather was freed from jail?

Her mother's killer.

He was the one person that haunted her dreams and life.

Thalia's most terrifying nightmare.

She hated him more than anything in the world, but she also feared him more than anything, and it truly made her sick to her stomach that she was still so scared of him. 

David, her stepfather, took the most precious thing in her life away. Her mother. Then he began torturing her with those awful letters after her mother passed away. The eleven years following her mother's passing were agony. It was hell.

A hell that Thalia dragged herself through.

She made a promise to her mother. To survive.

And she fought to live.

After her mother passed away, she struggled with depression and attempted suicide for a while. After all she went through, she still made it. 

She tried to live life enough for them both despite something in her dying along with her mother. 

As a result of her vow.  

Her promise.

That's why she was so enraged. She was angry at herself, her stepfather, and the world. Why did a single text message from a delinquent completely demolish the life she spent years painstakingly creating? She'd created a safe space for herself with her blood and tears.

She wouldn't call it a safe space though, maybe a safe cage?

Because she restricted herself from a lot of things.

Holding her head in her hands and pulling on her hair, Thalia tried to hold back tears and a scream.

She was sick of this. 

She was sick of everything, and she just wanted to disappear. 

Her thoughts came to a halt when she felt a tap on her shoulder. 

She raised her head just to look into the beautiful dreamy eyes of a young girl. The child looked to be about 6 years old and she had beautiful blue eyes. It was more of light blue though, with a hint of green. Thalia could swear it was one of the most beautiful eyes she'd had the privilege to look into. The girl's hair was packed in a ponytail with a cute pink ribbon holding the ponytail together. 

She was like a breath of fresh air to Thalia at that moment, because she was about to have a panic attack in the middle of a restaurant in broad daylight.

"Are you okay?" The little girl asked with a cute, worried frown. 

Thalia stared at the child for a moment. She looked truly worried. Tears welled up in her eyes at the gesture.

 It was so pure. 

A woman came up behind the little child and picked her up. "Emma, what did I tell you about going up to strangers to disturb their meal?" 

The child whom Thalia had come to know as Emma pouted and said, "She just looked so sad." 

"I'm okay," Thalia said to her, with a warm smile. 

Emma's mother turned to Thalia. "I'm sorry if she disturbed your meal…" She stared down at the table and saw there was no meal, just a drink, "sorry… drink."

"It's okay," Thalia smiled at the woman as she turned to leave. 

She watched them walk away and noticed that they sat 3 tables away from her, and there was a man whom she assumed was Emma's father seated at the table, too. 

Thalia turned away and faced the letter again. 

Once again, she just wanted to disappear. 

Maybe into a world where there were only pure and kind-hearted people like Emma... and her mom.