Chapter 3 — The House Near the River
243 Words
The village sat far from the city roads, hidden between endless rice fields and narrow rivers the color of wet earth.
It was the kind of place where everyone knew each other’s grief.
Her grandparents lived in a small wooden house near the riverbank where frogs sang loudly after rain and electricity disappeared whenever storms became too strong.
The child grew up there beneath the care of two old people who loved her with everything they had left.
Her grandmother carried her everywhere tied against her chest with worn fabric while cooking, washing clothes, or feeding chickens behind the house.
Her grandfather spoke to her constantly, even when she was too young to understand.
“You must become smarter than all of us,” he often said while rocking her to sleep.
Money arrived from her father every month inside brown envelopes.
Enough to survive.
Never enough to erase the absence.
As she grew older, the girl slowly began understanding something painful:
Other children belonged to complete families.
She belonged to memories nobody wanted to discuss.
Whenever she asked about her mother, silence filled the house.
Whenever she asked about her father, her grandmother smiled sadly and said:
“He works very far away.”
Still, despite everything, the child bloomed beautifully.
She learned quickly.
Read quickly.
Observed everything.
Teachers adored her almost immediately after she entered school.
And the villagers began noticing her in ways that would later change her life forever.
- Writer
