Chapter 1
Touch Me Gently
When Silence Dances in the Dark
*by Anastasia Dream*📘 **Chapter 1**
It was early morning. The sun had just risen above the rooftops, painting the sky in a peach-gold hue.
Eva knelt in the garden, pulling weeds between the lavender and rosemary bushes. She wore a faded but still beautiful floral dress. The fabric hugged her petite frame gently. Her fine, light brown hair was tied in a messy bun, with a few strands falling to her cheeks. Her face was dusted with pollen and lit by the warm morning light.
Her life for the past sixteen years had been just like this garden: well-kept, simple, without surprises.
Working from home. Laundry. Cooking. Cleaning. Homework with the kids. Late-night talks. Rare moments for herself.
She hadn’t asked herself what she wanted in a long time. All her “wants” had been for her children.
Eva sat on a wooden bench by the roses, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath of earth and herbs.
Once, back in Romania, she had dreamed of another life. Before she met Ștefan.
He was older, bold, mysterious. It didn’t take much for Eva to fall in love.
She followed him to America when he was running from his problems.
And she stayed, even after he found other women.
She didn’t complain. Didn’t go back. She just... lived.
Now, with the kids leaving, she felt a fear she hadn’t known before:
What if there’s nothing after this?
Back inside the house, she took off her gardening gloves. Passing through the kitchen, she heard music - an old playlist had started automatically. A light, rhythmic melody. One she used to dance to...
Eva froze in the doorway. Smiled. And then - gave in to the rhythm.
Her movements were hesitant at first, but her body remembered.
Dancing had always been her little secret. Not on stage. Not for anyone. Just for herself, when no one was watching.
In dance, fear, exhaustion, and worry disappeared.
She became someone else: free, confident, alive.
- Mom... - came a voice behind her.
Eva turned. In the doorway stood Maria - sixteen, tall, with thick hair and light in her eyes. She looked at her mother with a tenderness teenagers rarely express in words.
- Mom... I love when you’re like this, - she smiled. - Moments like these are rare.
Eva laughed, warmth rising in her throat.
- Thank you, sweetheart... Are you ready?
Her daughter nodded. Her brother David was already waiting in the car.
Eva glanced around the house once more, as if trying to memorize every detail.
Today everything would change.
---
They drove together.
A long road. Music. Conversations. Stops along the way.
Eva looked at her children and tried to hold back the ache.
They were her everything. Every thought. Every choice.
At the college, she helped them unpack, make the beds, arrange books.
She tried to smile.
Tried to keep her hands from trembling.
The goodbye was warm. The hugs - long.
She held them like she used to when they were small.
- You are my light. Always remember that.
They left, glancing back only once. Then they disappeared into a new world of students, buildings, and beginnings.
---
On the way back, the car was too quiet. She didn’t turn the radio on.
The road stretched like a memory.
Opening the front door, she felt the house sounded different.
Same walls. Same mugs. Same cushion on the couch.
But no one would walk in and say, “Mom, I’m home.”
She took off her shoes and went to the kitchen.
Her floral dress lay draped over a chair.
The music had stopped.
Eva sat at the edge of the bed.
And for the first time in a long while, realized: she was alone.
Too quiet.
Too empty.
Too painful.
---
