{ Avina }
The next morning, I forced myself to get ready. My hands shook as I dressed, as I gathered the produce my mother and I had picked the day before into bags. My parents watched me with worried eyes, but they didn’t try to stop me.
“Be careful,” my mother said, kissing my forehead.
“I will,” I promised.
The drive back to the capital felt like driving toward a cliff edge, each mile deliberate and terrifying. But I did it. I gripped the steering wheel and didn’t turn back. The familiar roads wound through the forest, and I forced myself to focus on the asphalt ahead rather than the memories lurking in these trees.
I was pulling into the parking area near my shop when I heard it—a girl’s cry, raw and desperate, cutting through the morning air. I killed the engine and grabbed the b
