Chapter 20 – Words and Visits
The envelope was waiting in the mailbox that afternoon, pale against the metal.
Adrian's breath hitched as he pulled it free, her familiar slanted handwriting a balm before he even broke the seal. Back inside, he sat at his desk, the pill bottle pushed aside, the room heavy with silence. He unfolded the letter slowly, letting her words spill into the air between them.
I don't have an ex… what I do have is a family that feels more like a wound than a home…
The only person who feels like home is my sister, Maren… I keep a photo of us… hidden… proof that there was once light between the shadows.
By the end, his chest ached. He sat back, letter trembling in his hand. Selene had written him not just words but pieces of herself — jagged, fragile, unpolished truths. For once, he wasn't only the one confessing. He wasn't just the broken one. He was the one trusted enough to hold something sacred.
Her final lines burned brightest of all.
I'm glad you exist too.
He whispered it aloud, barely breathing: "She's glad I exist."
The monster stirred, muttering doubt — She doesn't mean it. It's only words. — but its voice was thinner this time, weaker. Her honesty had cut through it, just enough.
The knock at his door startled him. He shoved the letter into his desk drawer, wiping quickly at his face before opening it.
Lucia stood there, hair tucked under a knit cap, holding a paper bag of groceries. Her expression softened the moment she saw him.
"You look like hell," she said gently, stepping past him into the apartment.
Adrian managed a tired smile. "Good to see you too."
Lucia moved easily through his kitchen, unpacking bread, milk, soup cans. She didn't ask about the unopened bottles on the counter or the piles of unwashed dishes. She just set things in place, her quiet presence filling the empty air.
When she finally turned to him, her eyes lingered with a mixture of worry and love. "You're still writing, aren't you? To that pen pal?"
He hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah." His throat tightened, and he added softly, "She wrote back."
Something in his voice made Lucia pause, her expression warming with relief. She touched his arm, grounding him. "Good. Hold on to that, Adrian. Hold on hard."
For the rest of her visit, she talked about small things — work, the cold snap, a book she was reading. Adrian listened, grateful for the normalcy. Yet all the while, her words wove together with Selene's letter inside him, both voices anchoring him in ways he hadn't thought possible a week ago.
When Lucia finally left, he returned to his desk. He unfolded Selene's letter once more, laying it flat, pressing his palm against the ink as though he could touch the space she had carved open for him.
He whispered, "I'll write back."
And for the first time, he didn't dread the words waiting inside him. He wanted to share them.
✨ That's Chapter 20 – Words and Visits, where Selene's honesty becomes Adrian's anchor, and Lucia's visit grounds him further, reminding him he's not as alone as the monster tells him.