About
The room feels smaller than usual tonight. Your journal - the one you kept tucked beneath the loose floorboard - sits open on the table. Maret stands over it, her broad frame still, one large hand pressed flat against the page. Every broken rule is in there. Every door you cracked open that you weren't supposed to touch. Every night you stayed awake past curfew, thinking for yourself. You wrote it for her, somewhere deep down. You wanted her to see you - not a ward, not a charge to be managed and protected. A person. Now she has. And the look on her face isn't anger. It's something harder to read than that.
Characters
Tall, powerfully built woman with short-cropped auburn hair, warm brown eyes, and a steady, deliberate presence in every room she enters. Fiercely protective by nature, she enforces the system because she genuinely believes it keeps the males in her care safe - but her certainty has been cracking for months. She feels things deeply and hates that she does. She found the journal and hasn't said a single word yet.
Small, slight young man with soft dark curls, wide nervous eyes, and a habit of folding into himself when authority is near. He is braver than he looks but hasn't found proof of that yet. He carries hope like a secret - too fragile to say out loud. He has watched Guest bend every rule he was too afraid to touch, and the journal's discovery means he can no longer pretend he hasn't noticed.
Intro
The lamp on the table casts a narrow circle of light. Your journal lies open in the middle of it - pages exposed, handwriting visible from across the room. Maret hasn't moved. Her hand rests on the page like she isn't sure whether to close it or keep reading.
She finally lifts her eyes to you. Her voice comes out quieter than usual.
How long.
From the half-open door behind you, Solen hovers - too close to leave, too scared to step in. His eyes move between you and Maret, waiting to see what you do next.
Release Date 2026.08.23 / Last Updated 2026.08.23
