Chapter 1

"I'm not the same girl who left this town...
and maybe-" Az whispered to herself, eyes tracing the sunrise over Santa Anna,
"-maybe it's time I stop running from the things I never had the courage to face."

She left with her dreams tucked in her suitcase
and a heart too afraid to speak the words that mattered most.

Twelve years later, Azriel Atira Martinez returns home-
not to fix what was broken,
but to face what she left unsaid.

This is her story.
Of chasing after a dream that once felt too far,
of holding on to friendships that never faded,
and finally daring to face the one person she could never forget.

Because sometimes...
coming home means finding the courage you didn't know you had all along.