Mother puts both daughters inside the fir… See more

A Mother’s Quiet Fear
Elara had not always been this way. Once, she had been known for her laughter, her singing voice drifting across the hills during harvest season. But that was before the winter of the great storm—the winter that took her husband and left her alone with two young daughters and a silence that never quite lifted.

Lina, the elder, was thoughtful and observant. She watched her mother carefully, noticing the way Elara’s eyes lingered too long on the forest line each evening. Maris, younger by three years, still carried the lightness of childhood. She laughed easily, chasing shadows and imagining stories in the rustling trees.

But even Maris had begun to notice the change.

“Elara,” Lina said one evening, dropping the formal tone she used when she was worried. “Why do you always lock the door before sunset?”