Chapter 1
Chapter one : Invisible things
It was always loud in the house
Not with music or laughter, but with commands, doors slamming, and the sound of her own thoughts trying not to break her. Zariah had mastered the art of smiling while swallowing down the ache in her chest — the one that lived there quietly like an unwelcome tenant
On the outside, she looked fine.
Fat, maybe, by some people’s words.
But she didn’t flinch anymore when they said it. Not in front of them, at least.
She had learned how to laugh with people who teased her, eat in silence at school, and not cry when her younger brother got a brand new phone while she still begged for credit just to stay online for a few more minutes. They never noticed how her eyes watered when she read love stories alone at night, or how hard it was to feel like the world was moving forward while she remained stuck in the same boring, painful loop.
She was tired.
Tired of pretending she was okay.Tired of being in rooms filled with people and still feeling like no one saw her.
And so one night, with the fan spinning lazily above her head and a pillow pulled to her chest like a shield, she whispered a prayer she never thought anyone would hear:
> “God… I don’t even want love. I just want someone. Someone who’ll listen. Someone who’ll stay.”
No thunder answered. No miracle appeared.But something shifted. And she didn’t know it yet — not that night, not even the next week —that the boy who would rewrite the story of her sadness…was already looking for her too.
