Third person POV
The house was too quiet.
Sonia pushed the door open and stepped into the narrow hallway of her parents’ home, the air thick with dust and memory. The faint smell of lavender still clung to the curtains, though no one had been here for days. It hit her in the chest like a blow, the scent of her mother, who had sprayed lavender water on every pillow before bed.
Her fingers trailed over the wall as she walked further inside. Family photographs lined the hallway, their smiles frozen in time. There she was as a child, sandwiched between her parents, her father’s large hand resting protectively on her shoulder, her mother’s laughter caught mid-frame.
She reached out and touched the glass, her breath fogging the surface. “Why did you leave me?” she whispered, the words trembl
