Echoes Behind the Shutters: A story of loss, lament and resilience

Fernville was supposed to be safe. Then the factory burned. One by one, the shutters came down: on the shops, on the houses, and finally on the Reed family's front door. Ciara is thirteen years old. Her father is slipping away. Her mother is fading. Her little brother, who once filled the house with questions, grows quieter by the day. She is holding the family together with both hands, and nobody can see it. Then the unthinkable happens, and thirteen is no longer old enough. She hides the hunger. She hides the fear. She goes to school and tries to look like every other girl. Nobody asks. Nobody looks twice. Until one adult does. She sees what the others have missed. She asks one quiet question and waits for the answer. It is a small thing. It will turn out to be everything. Everyone you passed today is carrying a story they have never told. This is Ciara's.