Darkness melted away, replaced by golden sunlight.

Laughter echoed. Children darted across a grassy field, their voices high with joy. Nearby, an old brick building stood—a children’s orphanage.

Nico’s eyes landed on a small figure sitting apart from the others.

A five-year-old girl.

The afternoon sun kissed her long dark hair as she scribbled furiously in a worn diary, her small fingers wrapped tightly around the pen, as if letting go might mean losing herself.

“Elena! Come play!”

A voice called from the group skipping nearby.

She flinched, startled. For a moment, a smile flickered across her face—but then she quickly slammed the diary shut and bolted toward the others, her feet kicking up soft blades of grass.

The diary tumbled to the ground, forgotten.

Nico hesitated before reaching for it.

As his fingers brushed the worn leather cover, a strange pull gripped him. He wasn’t really here. Not here. He was a ghost drifting through someone else’s past. He shouldn’t look.

But he did.

The pages fluttered open beneath his touch.

"When I get adopted, I’ll be the best daughter ever. I swear."

His breath hitched. A sharp pang bloomed in his chest.

Before he could linger, the world shifted.

Elena, now nine, stood in front of a well-dressed couple.

The woman’s stomach rounded with pregnancy. Elena’s hands trembled as she clutched a small, battered suitcase, her face stretched with uncontainable joy.

“You’re coming home with us,” the woman said, smiling warmly. “You’re part of our family now.”

Elena’s lips parted. “Really?”

“Really.”

Tears welled in her eyes.

Then—

The memories flickered faster:

Elena, ten, standing on a stepstool beside her adoptive mother, her face dusted with flour as she helped bake cookies. Marco, her little brother, a chubby toddler, kicked his feet in a high chair, giggling.

The memory blurred.

Marco, now older, running through the living room, shrieking with laughter as Elena chased him. “Too many sweets, little man! You’ll rot your teeth!”

She snatched the candy from his tiny hands, holding it high above her head.

Marco pouted. Elena only smirked.

Nico felt a grin tug at his own lips.

Elena, a teenager now, her body moving like lightning across the track. Her feet pounded against the ground, her face sharp with determined focus.

First place. Every time.

Cheers. Applause. A proud smile tugging at her lips.

“She’s incredible,” Nico murmured.

Late nights.

A dimly lit kitchen, textbooks scattered across the table. Elena’s brows furrowed in concentration, eyes scanning notes, her hand scribbling furiously.

Her parents peeked in from the doorway. Pride shined in their eyes.

“She's so cute." Nico thought to himself.

Another shift.

A school cafeteria.

Elena sat at a table, peeling an orange with precise fingers, a container of grilled chicken and quinoa beside her. Across from her, her friend groaned, stabbing at a greasy slice of pizza.

“How do you eat that stuff every day?” the friend asked, taking a massive bite.

Elena smirked.  "I actually like having energy.” She popped a grape into her mouth. “You’re gonna crash by third period.”

The friend rolled her eyes. “You eat like a nutritionist.”

Elena laughed. “One of us has to live past forty.”

Her friend rolled her eyes. 

"Anyways, Ace was asking about you, he wanted me to invite you to his party later this week. You have to come, its my birthday too, you have to!"

Elena sighed. "You know I don't do parties or like going out past my parents curfew. Can't we just do something else?"

"No! You have to come! It's just once, please!"

Elena sighed again.

"I don't really lie to my parents.. but i'll try."

Another shift.

Elena, curled up in bed, fake-coughing into a pillow.

Marco peeked in, whispering, “You sure you don’t wanna come out with us? Dinners are boring, but at least there’s dessert.”

She waved him off with a laugh. “Go eat enough for me, okay?”

Marco took a step towards her and peeked closer to her face. 

"You aren't faking sick are you? Actually never mind, you're too much of a nerd."

Marco sighed but, before leaving, ran back to tuck a piece of candy on her pillow. “For you, just in case.”

Elena flicked his forehead. He stuck his tongue out before scampering away.

The door shut.

Another shift.

Loud music. Red cups. A party.

Elena stood awkwardly near the door, arms crossed.

“C’mon, Elena! Live a little!”

A boy grinned, draping an arm over her shoulder.

“Ace, I—I can’t. My parents— I should go home before they do, I shouldn't have snuck out.”

“Forget them! One night won’t kill you.”

Her friends begged. Her resolve cracked.

Another shift.

Elena's in a bathroom.

Elena gripped her phone with shaking hands. Something happened to her. Nico’s stomach began to twist.

“Mom? Dad? I—I lied. Please come get me. I’m so sorry.”

A warm, worried voice crackled on the other end.

“We’re on our way.”

Nico exhaled in relief.

A shift.

Police sirens wail outside the house party, their echoes cutting through the music, through the laughter, through everything.

They push reach the door, calling out for Elena.

Elena stands frozen in the doorway.

Her parents never made it.

The officer shifts uncomfortably, his voice careful, almost gentle. “We’re sorry. Their car was hit by a drunk driver. No one survived.”

The words don’t make sense. They hang in the air, weightless, unreal—until they slam into her all at once.

Her knees hit the floor.

“No. Stop.” Nico shouted as he turns away, his throat tight. “I don’t want to see anymore.” He feels like an intruder, like he’s prying open a wound that was never his to touch. Guilt knots in his stomach, shame curling around his ribs.

But the memories didn’t stop.

A cold foster home.

Elena lay on a stiff mattress, staring at the ceiling.

Her little brother’s laughter had been replaced with silence.

Skipping school.

Long afternoons spent at the edge of a bridge, staring down at the water below.

She takes a step forward.

And she fell.

Nico sucked in a sharp breath.

A hospital.

White walls.

Restraints.

Social workers stood at her bedside.

“There’s a program for troubled kids like you.”

Elena's eyes were empty. Soulless. “Okay.”

The memories ended.

Nico stood alone, only his own reflection staring back at him in the mirror.

His cheeks were wet. He hadn’t realized he was crying.

He reached out, fingers trembling.

“Elena…” His voice cracked. “I’m so sorry.”

The mirror shimmered.

Then it pulled him in.

Darkness swallowed him whole.