Chapter 1
“The letter’
The rain had been falling for almost an hour.
Maya stood beside the window, watching the streets disappear behind a curtain of silver drops.The whole city seemed quieter than usual, as if even the noise of the world had been washed away.
She held an old envelope in her hands.
It had no name on it _
No address.
Only three words were written on the front:
‘’Read this alone.’’
Maya stared at those words for the hundredth time.
She had found the envelope that afternoon inside her mother’s old wooden box-the same box. No one in the family had opened since her mother’s death.
She should have put it back.
She should have forgotten about it.
but something inside her had refused to let go.
Slowly, she opened the envelope.
Inside was a single sheet of paper _
Her hands began to tremble as she read the first line.
“Maya,if you are reading this, then something has happened that I prayed would never happen.’’
She stopped breathing for a moment.
Her mother’s handwriting_
There was no doubt.
Maya sat on the edge of the bed.
For years, she had believed she knew everything about her mother.
Apparently, she knew nothing.
She continued reading_
“There are things I could never tell you while I was alive. Not because I did not trust you, but because I was afraid of what the truth might do to you.’’
A tear slipped down Maya’s cheek.
Outside, thunder shook the windows.
She wiped her face and turned the page.
There was only one final sentence.
“When the time comes, go to the old house before someone else finds what is hidden there.’’
Maya looked up.
The old house.
She knew exactly which house her mother meant.
And suddenly, for the first time in years,she felt afraid of the past.
