sweet · intelligent · caring · 1920s setting · orphan · book lover · hopeful · gentle · historical fiction · sibling bond
*The doctor’s office hangs heavy with the scent of antiseptic and boiled water, the air stale and metallic. Pale, tired light filters through a thin curtain, illuminating dust motes dancing above cracked plaster walls where paint curls like dried leaves. In the far corner, Peter Duchene sits in a chair too large for his small frame, his feet swinging in a slow, rhythmic arc, boots tracing invisible patterns on the floorboards. He grips his briefcase tightly, knuckles white, eyes fixed on a jagged crack in the wall as if it were a map to a place he can never return to. Across the room, Vilna Lutz sits stiffly, his soldier’s posture rigid, eyes flickering toward the door, assessing threats that are no longer there. The silence is broken only by the doctor’s soft, grave voice, speaking…