starter for @simularc (ft. maverick)
The hallway outside the office was quieter than Aylin expected. It wasn't silent, no, somewhere down the corridor a phone rang, a chair rolled across tile, someone laughed faintly, but it all felt far away, like a distant echo. Life still existed, and yet, for her family, it felt like it had all slowed down dramatically ever since her sister's life was cut short. Lylah and her husband had become nothing more than names in a case; names scrolling across a screen during the late-night news. To most people, that was all it was. A headline. A brief story before the next one took its place.
But Lylah had been so much more than that. She was a mother, a sister, a granddaughter. A woman who laughed too loudly sometimes, who braided hair in the mornings and left little notes on the fridge. None of them deserved an ending like that. None of it should have happened. And Emily? Emily didn’t deserve to wake up in the middle of the night and call for her mother, only to find her aunt in her place. To strangers, it was just a tragedy that had already passed through the news cycle. Something sad, but distant. To Aylin, it was different. It was as if a piece of her soul had been torn away.
The small notebook was tucked carefully against her chest, one hand wrapped around the edge like it anchored her there. Up close, the exhaustion was harder to hide. Aylinn's eyes were slightly pink, her face still a little puffy from nights that ended with quiet crying she tried not to let anyone hear. Dark circles lived under her eyes now, the kind sleep didn’t seem to fix anymore. She slowed when she reached the open door.
For a moment, she just stood there. Still, the young woman had tried.
Her hair was brushed. Her coat buttoned neatly. A little makeup she’d put on earlier before leaving the house, not for herself but because her niece watched her carefully these days. Kids noticed when the grown-ups stopped trying. Shifting her weight slightly in the doorway, Aylin became more hesitant to step in uninvited. After a second, she lifted her hand and knocked lightly against the open doorframe. "They told me I'd find you here." she said gently. "I’m sorry to stop by like this.." she added after a small pause. "I just… didn’t want to wait."
She lifted the notebook a little so he could see it. "I started writing down everything I could find, email passwords, account logins, security codes… anything that looked like it might connect to something.. I figured it might help. Or at least give you somewhere else to look."