Twisted Plot

CHAPTER 19

The air was light that morning, tinged with the scent of early blooms and soft city traffic. Ramiel stood outside a small community center that doubled as an art therapy studio. It was modest, its walls covered in splashes of color from past student projects, but it held something sacred inside.

Sonia had finally agreed.

After days of pacing, of questions half-asked and silences too loud, she had called and said, “If you really want to know… come tomorrow morning. She’ll be there.”

Now, he stood frozen at the threshold, heart thudding as if he were about to step into a different lifetime.

He entered quietly.

Inside, soft jazz played over a speaker. Children moved between tables, painting, smearing colors onto canvases like fearless little artists. Teachers weaved around them, offering praise and gentle guidance.

And then he saw her.

Aria Rose.

She sat near the window, sunlight catching the tips of her dark curls. She was painting with deep concentration, her little tongue sticking out at the corner of her mouth—Harmony’s exact mannerism. Her small hand held the brush tightly, as though she knew every color had meaning.

She looked up. Their eyes met.

Ramiel forgot how to breathe.

Aria blinked curiously, tilting her head as if trying to place him. “Hi,” she said, voice soft and sweet.

“Hi,” he replied, stepping closer, overwhelmed. “What are you painting?”

“A lion,” she said proudly. “But he’s sad. So I gave him a flower crown.”

Ramiel smiled, but tears pricked at the edges of his vision. “That’s beautiful.”

Sonia appeared quietly behind him. She had watched the whole interaction. “She likes painting things that feel better after,” she said. “She inherited that from Harmony ”

At the sound of her mother’s name, Aria turned back to her painting, brushing gold across the lion’s mane.

Sonia gestured for Ramiel to step aside. They moved to a quiet corner.

“She doesn’t know,” she said. “Not everything. Just that her mom loved her more than anything in the world.”

Ramiel nodded. “Does she have any… memories?”

“She remembers Harmony’s voice. Her laugh. She talks to her in dreams sometimes, or when she sees butterflies.” Sonia looked down at her hands. “But lately, she’s started asking harder questions.”

Ramiel swallowed. “And you?”

“I knew who you were from the moment Harmony told me about Paris,” Sonia said gently. “I didn’t say anything because… she asked me not to. Until the right time.” She reached into her bag and pulled out the sealed envelope. “She left this. For you.”

Ramiel stared at the letter. He couldn’t bring himself to take it.

“I’m not ready,” he whispered.

“You don’t have to be,” Sonia said. “But you deserve to know who she was. And what she gave.”

His hands trembled as he took the envelope. He placed it carefully inside his coat.

“Will you come back?” Sonia asked.

Ramiel looked back at Aria. She had finished her painting and was showing it proudly to the teacher.

He exhaled.

“Yes,” he said. “This time, I’m not running.”

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Two chapters to go it's been a ride y'all