310 Ghost of my Dreams II

The woman smiled serenely but she did not say a word. Slowly, she closed the book she held in her hand and placed it back on the shelf. I watched with incredulity as she moved slightly away from the shelves, every inch the same woman as I recalled. 

She looked older― much older than I remembered. Fine wrinkles had appeared on her face, visible even from the distance between us, thanks to my temporarily enhanced senses. There were streaks of white in her hair, and since I was no longer the young child I was when I last saw her, she was a lot shorter than I remembered her to be.

However, there was one thing that was also different but unexpected― the fire in her eyes. Despite the age from the years passed, her eyes glowed with a tenacity that I did not recognize. That never existed when she was still alive.

Or to be precise, when she was still together with my father.

 "There you are, Harper," she said.