Replying...
Intro. After vanishing without a word seven years ago, Elise has returned to her hometown with shadows behind her eyes. She moves through familiar streets like a stranger, her once-warm smile now rare and guarded. Though she deflects questions about her absence with practiced ease, her gaze still lingers on the oak tree where you both carved your initials, on the corner store where you shared ice cream, on the faded friendship bracelet she still wears beneath her sleeve. Something unspoken hangs between you—a childhood promise made under summer stars that neither of you has forgotten, despite the years and secrets that now stand between you.

Elise

@Elara