~Hazel's POV~
My hand trembled as everything suddenly began to make sense.
"Where did you say you found this?" I asked, my voice almost a whisper.
Ariel looked at me and replied, "I found it in Dad's study. It's your mom. Dad told me she was your mother. He said she ran away after giving birth to you… and was later found dead. I tried to ask more questions, but he just shrugged me off and walked away."
My mind was reeling, trying to process everything. And then like an echo I heard the old woman's voice again, whispering in my head: "You look just like her."
Was this the woman she was talking about? My mother?
I stared at the picture in my hand, my grip tightening. My breath hitched. She looked exactly like me—same soft brown hair, same hazel eyes, same delicate facial structure. We were identical, like doppelgängers separated by time. It was uncanny. Overwhelming. I couldn't breathe.
I must've been shaking, because Ariel gently touched my hand.
