Prologue

In a city where lights never sleep but souls often do, there lived a woman who collected moments like others collected trinkets. Her name was Elara, and she moved through the world with quiet grace, her eyes reflecting both wisdom and wounds.

She had known loneliness as an old friend—sometimes a distant acquaintance, sometimes an intimate companion. It followed her through crowded streets and empty rooms alike, a shadow that stretched and contracted with the changing light of her days.

This is her story, but it could be anyone's. It could be yours. For loneliness speaks a universal language, even as it whispers different secrets to each heart it visits.