The Hollow Room
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwq4UEGcJ2q
Weeks passed, but the house didn’t feel like home anymore.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhpiWdfvULd
The walls no longer echoed laughter. The air felt colder, and the rooms, though still filled with furniture, felt strangely empty—as if her father had taken all the light with him when he left.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM66ZQAT4B5
Anatasia walked down the hallway in silence. Her fingers traced the edges of the old picture frames, lingering on the ones with her father’s smile. He looked so alive in the photos, so full of stories. But now… they felt like lies—moments frozen in time, mocking the emptiness she carried.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSntBqtwZnG
Her mother had stopped smiling.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDngSzw74Pu
Not the polite kind of smile she wore at dinners and garden parties. The real kind. The one that came with warmth. That smile died the day the doctor left their front door.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM0ROzeqrCi
Now, she wore red lipstick but never looked in the mirror. She lit candles but never prayed. She sat at the piano bench without ever playing a note.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPZ182IcgPz
And then one morning, everything changed.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlECUQjxXY1
Anatasia came down to breakfast and saw a man standing in the dining room.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiHEzu8IPld
Strange. Tall. Smiling. A stranger whose eyes darted around like he already belonged.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJTWaCy1xQS
Her mother introduced him with a voice so calm, it didn’t sound like her.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlBs01ScWkm
“This is Victor,” she said. “He’s going to stay with us… for a while.”
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh45HJkTxXe
Victor had a daughter. Anatasia hadn’t met her yet, but the way her mother spoke—giddy, rehearsed—made it clear that this wasn’t temporary.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB2hVQpx8aG
He wasn’t just staying. He was replacing.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNIFoQnEcvT
Anatasia stared at the empty chair at the head of the table.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ25y0CQHTob
The one her father always sat in.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8dlNu3I3Hq
Victor sat there now.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡozG0eCsPcd
Her stomach turned. Her hands clenched under the tablecloth. But she said nothing.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyONhjp4zmA
Because she wasn’t just losing a father now.
17Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqi55Y0ANMR
She was losing
ns216.73.216.97da2
