chapter 4 | Eleni Holden

The city smelled different after rain.

Not cleaner.

Just unfamiliar.

Eleni Holden rested her head lightly against the bus window as buildings blurred past outside beneath fading evening light.

Rainwater streaked across the glass while distant headlights stretched into long golden smears against the dark roads.

The highway ahead seemed endless.

Quiet.

Heavy.

Carrying her farther and farther away from Lunareth—the small coastal city where she had spent the last year and a half trying to survive quietly after everything fell apart.

Beside her, her aunt slept lightly against the seat, exhaustion visible even in rest.

Eleni looked away slowly.

Her fingers tightened slightly around the strap of her bag resting on her lap.

She still wasn’t used to silence.

Not this kind.

Not the kind left behind after people disappeared.

A year and a half ago, her parents had died in a car accident.

That was the version everyone gave her.

Simple.

Clean.

Unchangeable.

Eleni remembered the phone call.

The hospital lights.

The strange numbness that followed her for weeks afterward.

People speaking softly around her as if grief made sounds fragile.

But even now, the memories felt strangely distant sometimes.

Like those events had happened to someone else—

and she had only inherited the emptiness afterward.

After the funeral, her aunt became the only family she had left.

And now, because of work problems and financial issues she never explained fully, they were leaving Lunareth completely.

Moving to Grayhaven.

Eleni stared quietly at her reflection in the window.

Grayhaven.

The name felt uncomfortable in a way she couldn’t explain.

Not unfamiliar.

Worse.

Familiar in the wrong way.

“You should sleep for a bit.”

Her aunt’s voice startled her slightly.

Eleni turned.

“You’re awake?”

“Barely,” her aunt murmured tiredly while adjusting her glasses.

“We still have some time before we arrive.”

Eleni nodded quietly.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Then her aunt sighed softly.

“I know this move was sudden.”

“It’s okay.”

“You don’t have to pretend for my sake.”

Eleni lowered her eyes briefly before forcing a faint smile.

“I’m not pretending.”

It wasn’t entirely true.

But it wasn’t fully a lie either.

Her aunt hesitated before speaking again.

“I already handled your school transfer.”

Eleni blinked once.

“That fast?”

“There weren’t many options nearby.”

A pause followed.

Then—

“You’ll be attending Grayford High.”

Something inside Eleni tightened instantly.

Not pain.

Not fear.

Just—

discomfort.

Sharp.

Sudden.

Gone too quickly to fully understand.

She frowned slightly without realizing it.

Her aunt noticed immediately.

“What is it?”

“…Nothing.”

“You sure?”

Eleni nodded slowly before turning back toward the window.

Outside, road signs passed beneath dim streetlights one after another.

GRAYHAVEN – 12 KM

GRAYFORD DISTRICT

GRAYFORD HIGH

The final name lingered strangely inside her mind.

And for some reason—

her chest suddenly felt heavy afterward.

The bus finally entered Grayhaven after sunset.

Tall buildings rose around them while neon signs reflected across rain-soaked streets.

The city looked colder than Lunareth.

More crowded.

More distant.

Everything here felt gray.

Even the lights somehow looked colder.

When the bus finally stopped, Eleni stepped down quietly onto the wet pavement while her aunt pulled their luggage beside her.

Cold wind brushed past immediately.

Eleni instinctively pulled her sleeves farther over her hands.

“You okay?” her aunt asked softly.

“Yeah.”

But her attention had already drifted elsewhere.

Far beyond the crowded streets.

Beyond the buildings and traffic lights.

In the distance, barely visible beneath dark clouds, stood the outline of a large school building.

Grayford High.

She couldn’t even see it clearly.

Yet the moment her eyes landed there—

something sharp flashed violently through her mind.

A dark corridor.

Rain striking against windows.

The sound of glass shattering somewhere nearby.

A boy’s voice—

faint.

Warm.

“You came alone again?”

Eleni’s breath caught unexpectedly.

For a split second—

she saw a blurry figure beside her beneath gray morning skies.

Tall.

Wearing a school blazer.

Holding an umbrella slightly toward her side instead of his own.

Then—

the image disappeared instantly.

Gone.

Eleni grabbed her temple sharply.

Pain flickered briefly behind her eyes before fading away again.

“Eleni?”

She blinked quickly.

Her aunt was staring at her with concern now.

“You suddenly stopped walking.”

“…Sorry.”

“You don’t look well.”

“I’m fine.”

The answer came too quickly.

Too automatically.

Eleni adjusted the strap of her bag and forced herself to continue walking.

But the uneasy feeling refused to disappear completely.

It remained somewhere deep beneath her ribs—

quietly twisting every time she thought about the school waiting somewhere inside this city.

Later that night, after unpacking a few things, Eleni sat alone beside the bedroom window of the small apartment they had rented temporarily.

Grayhaven looked strangely quiet from above.

Too quiet.

Rainwater still clung to the streets below while distant traffic lights blinked endlessly through the darkness.

Eleni rested her chin against her knees absentmindedly while staring outside.

The city felt unfamiliar.

Yet every now and then—

small things inside it tugged at her memory in ways she couldn’t explain.

A staircase.

Rain against windows.

A voice she almost recognized.

But every time she tried reaching for those memories directly, they slipped away before she could understand them.

Eleni closed her eyes slowly.

Somewhere inside her mind—

something was trying very hard to stay buried.

And somewhere inside Grayhaven—

the past she no longer remembered had already started waiting for her return.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***