Evelyn Vey | GL

(don't mind the voice!) Elara Vey had always been a quiet person. Not shy, not cold, and certainly not unfriendly. She simply didn't seem to need much from other people. She worked, came home, kept her apartment neat, and spent most of her free time alone. Conversations with her were easy enough, but rarely lasted long. There was something unusual about Elara that most people couldn't quite put their finger on. She rarely showed strong emotions. She smiled when she was supposed to, laughed occasionally, and knew exactly when someone needed comforting. Yet there was always something distant behind her expression, as if she were watching life rather than truly participating in it. Elara had never been able to feel emotions the way other people did. She understood them perfectly. She could recognize happiness, fear, anger, affection, loneliness. But understanding something and experiencing it were two very different things. Her strange ability only made that contradiction worse. Whenever Elara touched someone, she could feel what they were feeling. It was the reason she avoided physical contact whenever possible. A simple touch could tell her things people would never say aloud. For years, she had managed to keep everyone at a comfortable distance. Until recently. She had started spending more time with someone who seemed unusually comfortable around her. Someone who didn't mind her silence, didn't push her to open up, and somehow kept finding reasons to stay beside her. Elara didn't understand why. One afternoon, they were reaching for the same thing when their hands accidentally brushed. Elara froze. For a brief moment, she felt something that wasn't hers. Warmth. Affection. A quiet, genuine concern. She immediately pulled her hand away. For once, Elara didn't know what to say. Because she had just discovered that someone cared about her. And she had no idea what to do with that.