Chapter 1 The Postcard
I didn’t notice the postcard at first.
It lay half-hidden beneath a crumpled grocery flyer, bright against the fading gray of my welcome mat, sunset orange, edges curled from humidity, the gloss dulled like it had traveled too far and collected too many hands along the way. Maya bounded right past it, her backpack thumping against her small body with each hop, her voice launching into a breathless squeal about a cat she saw across the street.
She was halfway down the walkway before I even blinked.
I should have followed her. I always did. Routine kept us safe; that was the rule I built my life on. But something tugged at the edge of my vision, a soft, magnetic pull that stole my breath before I understood why.
A postcard.
I bent to pick it up, a strange heaviness blooming in my chest as my fingers closed around the warm, sun-soaked paper. The front showed a washed-out photograph of a cheap, nameless motel. One-story, stucco cracking, a flickering neon sign that spelled out “Rest Easy.” I didn’t recognize it. Not the motel. Not the state printed in tiny letters in the corner.
But the handwriting on the back…
My breath snagged.
Round letters. Soft loops. A curl on every 'y'.
Kahlia.
My hands trembled as I read the single, haunting line:
Do you remember the creek? – K
And beneath that, the heart she always added, the one she used to draw on my math homework, on the backs of cafeteria napkins, on the cast I wore in seventh grade when I broke my wrist.
My vision pulsed. A dull ringing filled my ears.
Kahlia had been dead for twelve years.
A breeze rolled through the maple tree above the porch, scattering those papery helicopter seeds across the steps. One brushed my cheek, feather-soft. For a heartbeat, it felt like someone was touching me. Someone I used to know better than myself.
“Mommy!”
Maya’s voice cut through the fog. Too bright. Too alive.
I turned quickly and shoved the postcard deep into my pocket before she could see the way my fingers shook.
She stood at the sidewalk, curls wild, cheeks pink from running, her sneakers untied and flashing their blinking lights with every impatient bounce.
“Mommy, the kitty ran away!”
Her excitement, not fear, loosened the knot in my chest. “I see. Come here, baby.”
I walked toward her, this time leaving the front door unlocked because we weren’t going anywhere yet, not until dinner, not until I steadied myself. “Slow down,” I reminded her. “Sidewalk only.”
“I didn’t go in the street.” She tapped both light-up shoes as if they were proof of her innocence.
I took her hand, small, warm, grounding, and kissed the top of her head. “Come on. Let’s go in. I made rice and chicken.”
“Can I have dinosaur nuggets instead?” she asked, voice full of hope.
“We’ll negotiate.”
She giggled and tugged me up the steps and inside. The moment the door closed behind us, something shifted. The air in the house felt… too still. Like it had paused, waiting for something.
I did my usual scan of the living room, the habit you earn only through surviving things no one talks about. Nothing out of place. Nothing broken. Nothing missing.
Still, I locked both deadbolts.
Maya dropped her backpack at the foot of the stairs, humming an off-key song as she pranced into the kitchen. I leaned against the wall, the weight in my pocket dragging my attention downward like a hand gripping my hip.
I pulled the postcard out slowly.
The ink looked fresh. Too fresh. Like someone had written it last night, not twelve years ago. Memories unfurled, laughing until our ribs hurt, braids slapping against our backs as we ran through the woods, the creek water murky and cold around our ankles. The carved initials on the old oak tree. Her whispering secrets she hadn’t trusted anyone else with.
Then the darker memories crawled in… the fear in her eyes that last night… the way she said she needed to talk to me… the way I brushed her off because I was too tired, too distracted, too stupidly certain we had all the time in the world.
“Sera.”
The sudden voice made me jump so hard my shoulder hit the wall.
My neighbor, Mrs. Delaney, stood in the small doorway between our kitchens, the connecting hinged panel cracked open just enough for her face to peek through. Her white hair was frizzed from gardening, her expression soft with concern.
“Oh honey,” she murmured, “I didn’t mean to startle you. You alright?”
No. Absolutely not.
“Yes,” I lied, managing a smile. “Just tired.”
She studied me, really studied me, in that way older women do, like they can see the fissures under your skin. “Well, if you need anything with Maya, you let me know,” she said, giving me a gentle nod before closing the panel again.
The kitchen settled back into its familiar quiet.
Then Maya’s round little face peeked around the corner. “Mommy?”
“Yes, baby.”
“The lady came back last night.”
Ice slid down my spine. “What lady?”
“The nice one with the pretty hair.” She said it as if she were talking about a dream.
Cold prickled down my arms. “Maya… what did she say?”
“She told me to tell you hi.” Maya shrugged. “And she likes my drawings.”
Something deep inside me twisted.
“What did she look like?” I whispered.
Maya swung her legs, thinking. “Like the girl in the picture in the hallway.”
I froze.
The picture in the hallway was of me and Kahlia at sixteen, smiling with sunburned cheeks, our curls tangled from swimming in the creek.
“Maya… where did you see this lady?”
“In my room,” she said, not even flinching. “She was sitting on my bed when I woke up.”
My heartbeat stuttered painfully.
“Maya… did she touch you?”
“No.” She blinked again. “She just looked at you a lot.”
The kitchen felt colder than it should. Shadows stretched long across the floor. The clock on the wall ticked too loudly, each second slicing into my skin.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, but my voice cracked around the edges.
“She wasn’t scary,” she insisted, as if that solved everything.
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. The world narrowed into the space between my heartbeats.
“Sera.”
This time the voice came from directly behind me, low, soft, achingly familiar.
My blood froze.
I spun around instantly.
No one was there.
Just the quiet hallway. The hum of the fridge. The soft tap-tap-tap of Maya’s fingers on the table.
“Mommy?” she asked, blinking innocently.
God. I was spiraling again. Seeing things. Hearing-
But the postcard in my hand throbbed with its own heat, like a pulse.
Kahlia’s handwriting.
Kahlia’s name.
Kahlia’s… presence?
It was impossible.
Dead people didn’t send postcards.
Dead people didn’t sit on children’s beds.
Dead people didn’t whisper your name in your own kitchen.
But Kahlia had never cared about rules when she was alive.
Why would she start now?