A Voice Across Time

Chapter 1 — An Ordinary Day Anna Rodriguez liked quiet places. Not because she hated people. She just preferred places where nobody expected anything from her. The school library was one of them. At lunch, while most students crowded around the cafeteria tables, Anna sat alone near the window with a half-finished sandwich and an open textbook in front of her. She wasn't actually studying. She had been staring at the same paragraph for almost five minutes. Outside, students crossed the courtyard in groups. Some laughed loudly. Others hurried toward the cafeteria before the line became too long. Anna watched them for a moment before looking back at her book. Her phone vibrated. Mom: Are you coming home after school? Anna typed a reply. Anna: Yes. Three dots appeared. Then disappeared. Nothing else came. Anna put her phone back on the table. She wasn't bothered by it. At least, she told herself she wasn't. She finished her sandwich and closed her textbook. Another ordinary day. That was how most days felt lately. Ordinary. School. Home. Dinner. Her room. Sleep. Then repeat. Anna didn't mind having a routine. She actually preferred it. There were no surprises, no awkward conversations, and no reason to explain herself to anyone. Her classmates knew her as the quiet girl who always submitted her work on time. Her teachers knew her as the student who rarely volunteered but usually knew the answer when called on. That was enough. She didn't need to be popular. She didn't need a huge group of friends. She was fine. At least, that was what she believed. --- By the time Anna arrived home, the sky had already begun turning orange. Their apartment was small enough that she could hear the television from the hallway. Her father was home. He usually came home tired, sat on the couch, and watched whatever happened to be on television. Her mother was in the kitchen preparing dinner. Her younger brother was at the dining table, wearing earphones and staring at his phone. Nobody looked up when Anna entered. "Hi," she said. "You're home," her mother replied from the kitchen. Anna took off her shoes. "Yeah." She walked toward her room. "Wash your hands first," her mother called. "I know." She heard her father laugh quietly from the living room. It wasn't really a conversation. Most things in their family weren't. Anna washed her hands and went to her room. She dropped her bag beside her desk and sat on the edge of her bed. Her room wasn't much. A bed. A small desk. A cabinet. A few books stacked against the wall. She opened her phone and scrolled through it without really looking at anything. Messages. Videos. Social media. Nothing interesting. Her stomach growled. A few minutes later, her mother called from downstairs. "Anna! Dinner!" "Coming!" She put her phone down and walked out. Her family was already sitting at the table. Her father was eating quietly. Her brother was still looking at his phone. Her mother placed another plate of food on the table. Anna sat down. For a while, nobody said anything. The television played faintly in the background. Her brother suddenly laughed at something on his phone. "What?" their mother asked. "Nothing." He showed her the screen anyway. Their mother laughed. Anna watched them for a second. She didn't feel jealous. Not exactly. She just wondered what it would be like to talk to her family that easily. She lowered her eyes and continued eating. After dinner, Anna returned to her room. She changed into comfortable clothes, finished her homework, and lay down. The apartment gradually became quieter. Her brother went to his room. Her father turned off the television. Her mother washed the last of the dishes. Anna was almost asleep when she heard voices from the living room. Her parents. They were speaking quietly. She couldn't make out the words at first. Then she heard her mother say something that made her open her eyes. "Your father?" There was a pause. Her father's voice was lower. "Yeah." Anna sat up. She couldn't hear everything. Only pieces. "...called earlier." "...accident." "...alone." Her mother sounded confused. Then worried. Anna stepped out of her room. Her parents were standing near the kitchen. Her father's phone was still in his hand. "What happened?" Anna asked. Both of them looked at her. Her mother's expression changed. "Anna..." She immediately knew something was wrong. "What happened?" Her father looked at her for a moment before answering. "Your grandfather died." Anna didn't say anything. For several seconds, the apartment seemed unusually quiet. She knew she had a grandfather. Of course she did. But the word felt strange. Grandfather. She hadn't seen him in years. She could barely remember the last time they had spoken. "What happened?" she finally asked. "An accident," her father said. "They found him at his house." His house. Anna remembered it vaguely. A large, old house somewhere outside the city. She had visited once when she was younger. Or maybe twice. She couldn't remember. Her mother pulled out a chair. "Sit down." Anna sat. Her father remained standing. "There are some things we need to figure out," he said. "Like what?" He exchanged a look with her mother. "The house." Anna frowned. "What about it?" "Your grandfather left it to us." She stared at him. "For us?" Her father nodded. "We can't afford to keep paying rent forever." Anna understood immediately. They weren't talking about visiting. They were talking about moving. Her mother sat beside her. "We'll explain everything tomorrow." Anna nodded slowly. She didn't know what to say. Later that night, she returned to her room. She turned off the lights and lay in bed. The room was dark except for the light from her phone. She opened the browser. Without really knowing why, she searched her grandfather's name. Nothing useful appeared. She searched again. Then she stopped. Anna realized she didn't even know what she was looking for. She opened her mother's old family photos instead. After scrolling for a while, she found one. Her grandfather. He was much younger in the photograph. Maybe around Anna's age. He was standing beside a house she recognized. The same house. Anna stared at the photograph. She had no memories of the man in it. Only a vague image of an old man sitting somewhere in the background of her childhood. She zoomed in. There was something about his expression that caught her attention. He looked happy. Almost carefree. Anna wondered what had happened between that photograph and the old man she barely remembered. She locked her phone. Outside her window, the city continued moving. Cars passed. People talked. Somewhere, a dog barked. Everything was normal. But tomorrow, Anna would begin packing. And soon, she would move into a house belonging to a man she barely knew. A man whose life, she would soon discover, had been much stranger than she ever imagined.