The afternoon sun poured quietly through the living room window.
Evelyn sat on the couch, staring at nothing in particular. The house was quiet except for the distant laughter of the boys playing outside.
She should have felt peaceful.
But peace had not visited her in years.
Her eyes drifted toward the staircase.
Stephanie had been acting different lately.
Quieter.
More distant.
It bothered Evelyn more than she wanted to admit.
The sound of something falling in the kitchen suddenly broke the silence.
Evelyn stood up immediately and walked toward the noise.
Stephanie was there, bending down to pick up a glass that had slipped from her hands.
"I'm sorry," Stephanie said quickly.
Evelyn looked at the broken pieces on the floor.
Something about the moment stirred an anger she didn't even understand.
"You're always careless," Evelyn snapped.
Stephanie froze slightly.
"I didn't mean to—"
"You never mean to," Evelyn interrupted sharply.
The words came out harsher than she intended, but she didn't stop.
Sometimes it felt easier to be angry than to feel anything else.
Stephanie lowered her head and continued picking up the pieces.
Evelyn watched her for a moment.
The same eyes.
The same face.
It was like staring at a memory she had tried to bury.
"You look more and more like him every day," Evelyn muttered under her breath.
Stephanie stopped moving.
"Like who?" she asked quietly.
Evelyn instantly regretted the words.
"Just clean that up," she said coldly.
Stephanie didn't say anything else.
She simply finished picking up the broken glass and walked out of the kitchen.
Evelyn remained standing there long after she left.
Her chest felt tight.
She had spent sixteen years trying to forget.
Sixteen years trying to move on.
Yet somehow…
the past kept staring back at her through her own daughter's eyes.