After Velicia spoke, silence replied.
Her eyes searched the tall trees in the distance, waiting, expecting… hoping. But no one came.
She was expecting her mother to come out. To show her face. To greet her after all these months.
Then suddenly she heard a crackle. Her head snapped upwards. Asoft static buzzed from above her.
Hidden among the tall trees, a small speaker sat nailed to a crooked wooden post. She was surprised because it wasn’t there before.
And then… she heard the voice.
“Velicia.”
Her whole body froze. The voice was soft and unmistakably feminine. It was older but familiar. The kind of voice that lived in a child’s earliest memories. A lullaby. A whisper behind the door.
“You finally realized the truth that was in front of you all along.”
Velicia’s eyes filled with
