The cold breeze played with Elisa's hair, lifting the loose strands and brushing them across her cheek. She stood by the balcony railing, staring down at the quiet Australian street beneath her. People walked past cafés with steaming cups, students mounted bicycles, and cars hummed softly through the wide lanes.
It was peaceful and beautiful but her mind was nowhere near it.
She looked present… but inside, she was oceans away.
She had always dreamed of seeing the world of traveling, of painting landscapes in faraway countries, of breathing air untouched by her past.
Yet never.. never in her wildest imagination did she think she would be doing it under these circumstances.
Her father had moved her and Nyxella to Australia under the guise of safety, but it wasn't protection.
It was isolation wrapped in luxury.
A gilded cage with sunlight through the bars.
