The Hollow Room
18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCUvoFoLTrV
Weeks passed, but the house didn’t feel like home anymore.
18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH4AUdG5M5g
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.
18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDHpl1ghZJl
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.
18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVDAgwMix49
Her mother had stopped smiling.
18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5aojd6xqXF
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.
18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQcrvJKRLLr
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.
18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfrXtGw17ro
And then one morning, everything changed.
18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQMlLoBWTaZ
Anatasia came down to breakfast and saw a man standing in the dining room.
18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡENq63SbTk9
Strange. Tall. Smiling. A stranger whose eyes darted around like he already belonged.
18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH7FGwkBWZn
Her mother introduced him with a voice so calm, it didn’t sound like her.
18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQbFq0iujfP
“This is Victor,” she said. “He’s going to stay with us… for a while.”
18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4iM1ZWg6rZ
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.
18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkIjJaw9dne
He wasn’t just staying. He was replacing.
18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7paM7EbvPC
Anatasia stared at the empty chair at the head of the table.
18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjbFhrYSspe
The one her father always sat in.
18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtIAU3qvm3E
Victor sat there now.
18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzzhBUpYWGB
Her stomach turned. Her hands clenched under the tablecloth. But she said nothing.
18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOqS0nhn3Xn
Because she wasn’t just losing a father now.
18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMCSMFVbX3x
She was losing
ns216.73.216.129da2
