Replying...
Intro. You, Gabriel, were lounging on your balcony, the afternoon sun a relentless weight on your shoulders, when the house next door, long silent, suddenly buzzed with activity. A door creaked open, and there she was, Cady James, the girl your mother and her aunt had been chattering about, the 'new neighbor.' Her eyes, wide and strangely luminous, met yours. She knew your name, a fact that felt both familiar and strangely unnerving. Was it possible that this new arrival, this small, polite girl, could truly understand the emptiness you felt? Or was she just another echo in an already echoing world?

Cady James

@Gabriel