Evanya Neil was twenty-four years old.

To the world, she was the cold and capable head of a production company.

A young woman who carried herself with confidence, spoke with authority, and never allowed emotions to interfere with business.

People admired her, feared her, and envied her.  

But nobody knew how much of that image was carefully built.

At fifteen, Evanya had lost everything.

Her parents had been her entire world.

They weren't simply the people who raised her. They were her closest friends, her comfort, and the one place where she never had to pretend. They celebrated every small achievement, listened patiently to every silly story, and filled her life with a warmth that made her believe they would always be there.

Then one day, they were gone.

Even after nine years, the memory remained painfully clear.

Her parents were found near the riverbank they used to visit together, a quiet place where they often spent evenings watching the sunset.

There were no wounds and no signs of a struggle.

They weren't found in the water, but on the riverbank itself.

At first, people assumed they had simply lost consciousness.

They were wrong.

No explanation or answers to what caused their death.

Only questions that nobody could answer.

And for a fifteen-year-old girl, that silence was unbearable.

The house that had once been full of laughter suddenly felt too large and impossibly empty.

The production company her parents had built was legally left in her name, but she was too young to manage it. Until she turned twenty-one, their trusted friends protected the company and ensured everything remained intact.

Her aunt and uncle—close friends of her parents—did everything they could for her.

They offered her a home, family, a place where she wouldn't have to face her grief alone.

But Evanya refused, because every corner of her parents house carried a piece of them.

The couch where her mother spent evenings reading, Kitchen where her father ruined breakfast almost every Sunday.

The staircase where she would sit and wait for them to return home.

Leaving felt wrong, like she was abandoning the last traces of their existence.

So she stayed, even if it meant she was alone.

Years passed.

While other teenagers were making memories with friends, Evanya buried herself in books and responsibilities.  

Survival became her only goal.

Every achievement gave her something to focus on besides the emptiness she carried inside.

By the time she turned twenty-one and officially took control of the company, the cheerful girl her parents had raised had nearly disappeared.

In her place stood a woman who could negotiate deals without hesitation.

A woman with sharp instincts and a mind that stayed three steps ahead of everyone else.

Someone who never allowed others to see her vulnerable side.

After losing the only people she trusted completely, dependence itself began to feel dangerous.

She learned to rely only on herself.

And over time, that lesson became a wall around her heart.

Whatever she felt stayed locked behind a calm expression. Whether it was fear, anxiety, or doubt, the world never saw it.  

Even now, if an employee suddenly raised their voice during an argument, a flicker of fear would still pass through her.

The frightened fifteen-year-old girl had never truly disappeared.

She had simply learned how to stay hidden.

Fear still found its way into Evanya's heart from time to time.

But her act of calmness was flawless that people mistook it for strength.

Yet every night, after the office lights were turned off and the world stopped watching, the mask finally slipped.

She would return home.

To the house that had witnessed every stage of her life.

The memories were still there.

Unfortunately, so was the loneliness.

On a small table stood framed photographs of her parents.

That was where the powerful Evanya Neil ceased to exist.

 She would sit before their photographs for hours—talking when the loneliness became too much, crying when the grief felt unbearable, or simply staring in silence, wishing for an answer she knew would never come.  

"Mom..."

"Dad..."

The words always emerged softer than intended.

She still longed to hear her mother's voice telling her everything would be okay.

She still missed the quiet reassurance that always came with her father's smile.

The tears she never allowed anyone else to see flowed freely there.

Because success couldn't erase grief.

Power couldn't fill the emptiness they left behind.

And years of pretending couldn't change one simple truth.

Deep inside, there was still a lonely girl waiting for parents who would never come home.

One evening, while leaving the office, she noticed an employee sitting in the break area with a novel in her hands.

The young woman wore a genuine smile, the kind Evanya rarely saw anymore.  

The sight caught Evanya's attention.

"What are you reading?"

The employee looked up in surprise.

"A novel, ma'am."

Evanya frowned slightly.

"A book can make someone smile like that?"

The employee laughed.

"It isn't the book itself."

"Then what is it?"

She closed the novel carefully.

"Sometimes reality gets exhausting. A good story gives you a break from it, even if it's only for a few hours."

The answer stayed with Evanya long after the conversation ended.

That evening, she bought the novel.

Because she wanted to understand what escape felt like.

For nine years, reality had been filled with responsibility, grief, and loneliness.

Perhaps, for a few hours, she could escape into another life.

A happier one, untouched by grief.

When she returned home that night, the familiar silence greeted her.

She set down her bag and looked toward the framed photographs of her parents.

The ache in her chest appeared instantly.

She was holding the novel and hoped that would offer a few hours of peace.

Beneath the polished image, the successful businesswoman, and the survivor everyone admired, there was still a hidden part of her heart.

A cheerful girl who wanted to laugh without thinking about tomorrow.

She wished she had friends she could rely on and a place where she didn't have to be strong all the time.

More than anything, she wanted to be loved without having to earn it.

A girl still waiting for someone who would look past the cold exterior and tell her,

"You don't have to carry everything alone anymore."

Next day

The day had been ordinary.

Meetings, emails, negotiations, deadlines.

Just another exhausting day in Evanya Neil's life.

By the time she left the office, darkness had already settled over the city. Streetlights reflected across rain-slick roads, and a cool breeze drifted through the quiet streets.

She was tired.

Not the kind of tired sleep could fix.

The kind that settled deep inside a person and stayed there.

For a moment, the thought of returning to the empty house filled her with reluctance.

Instead, she stopped at a small café she occasionally visited—a quiet place tucked between older buildings where nobody recognized her.

She sat by the window with a cup of coffee and the novel that had recently become her escape.

For an hour, she lost herself in someone else's story.

Just words on a page and a brief sense of peace.

When the café finally closed, she stepped back into reality.

The streets were quieter now.

The quickest route home cut through a narrow alley.

Normally she avoided it, but exhaustion won the argument.

The alley was nearly silent.

Only distant traffic broke the stillness.

The sound of her heels echoed softly against the pavement.

A few moments later, another sound joined them.

Footsteps, behind her.

Evanya glanced over her shoulder.

Nobody was there.

Even so, the uneasy feeling refused to leave.

She kept walking, listening as the footsteps continued behind her at the same steady pace.

They matched her pace a little too perfectly.

And they were getting closer.

Her pulse quickened.

Years of business dealings had taught her to trust her instincts, and every instinct she had was telling her something was wrong.

She stopped.

The footsteps stopped too.

Slowly, she turned around.

A man stood several feet away.

He was tall and appeared middle-aged, his face mostly hidden by the shadows of the alley.  

For a brief moment, neither moved.

Then Evanya opened her mouth.

"Who are—"

The man raised a gun.

Everything seemed to freeze.

The shot shattered the silence.

Pain tore through her chest.

She stumbled backward, more from shock than force.

Before she could process what had happened, a second shot followed.

The impact stole the air from her lungs.

Her hand flew to her chest.

Warmth spread between her fingers.

Blood.

Her knees buckled.

The pavement rushed toward her.

Suddenly the world felt distant, as though she were watching it from somewhere far away.

The lights above blurred,edges of her vision darkened.

Fear settled over her, fear of dying alone.

That familiar loneliness—the one she had carried for nearly a decade—wrapped itself around her one final time.

As consciousness slipped away, memories surfaced.

Her mother laughing so hard she could barely speak.

Her father calling her from the living room during movie nights.

The smell of birthday cake before guests arrived.

Falling asleep on the couch and waking up covered with a blanket.

For years those memories had brought pain.

Now they brought longing.

A desperate longing.

"Dad..."

The word barely escaped her lips.

"Mom..."

Her voice cracked.

She wanted to see them again.

Just once.

One more hug.

One more smile.

One more chance to hear them say they loved her.

The darkness grew heavier.

Somewhere nearby, she heard footsteps approaching. They weren't hurried; if anything, they sounded calm.

The man stopped beside her.

When he finally spoke, his voice was low and cold enough to send a chill through her fading consciousness.

"You can't come back now."

Confusion flickered through her fading mind.

Come back?

What did that mean?

She tried to focus, but the rest of his words dissolved into meaningless noise.

Her hearing was disappearing.

So was everything else.

The last thing she saw was the moon hung above the alley, strangely beautiful in the middle of everything that was happening.

For a brief moment, it looked peaceful.

And as darkness finally claimed her, a single thought remained.

Mom... Dad...

I'm tired.

Can I come home now?