That morning, Jovan was still sitting at the desk in his room, staring at the letter he had found the day before. The ordinary-looking white paper now felt like an object full of secrets. Ever since he had read the few sentences inside, his mind had been filled with questions.
Who sent this letter?
Why was his name clearly written on the front?
And what puzzled him most of all, why did the letter's contents seem to know him more deeply than the people around him did?
Jovan took the letter out of the desk drawer again. He opened it slowly, afraid of damaging the paper, which already looked old.
“Don't believe everything you hear about the past.”
The sentence kept replaying in his mind.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jovan muttered.
He tried to remember whether there had ever been someone hiding something from him. His life had always seemed ordinary. He lived with his mother, went to school like other kids, and spent his time with his friends.
But ever since the letter had appeared, everything felt different.
As he was thinking, someone knocked on the door.
“Jovan, haven't you had breakfast yet?” his mother called from outside.
“Yeah, Mom, in a minute,” Jovan quickly replied.
He hurriedly slipped the letter into his notebook before opening the door.
His mother stood there holding clothes that had just finished drying.
“Why have you been in your room this whole time? Usually, you're the hardest person to get out of bed. Now you're up before everyone else.”
Jovan gave a small smile.
“Nothing, Mom. I was just thinking about a school assignment.”
His mother looked at Jovan for several seconds.
“You're still the same when you lie as you were when you were little.”
Jovan fell silent at once.
“What do you mean?”
“I know you're keeping something to yourself. But if you're not ready to talk about it yet, that's okay. Just don't let whatever it is make you face it alone.”
His mother's words left Jovan quiet for a moment. Part of him wanted to tell her everything, but he was afraid of making her worry.
“When I'm ready to talk, I'll tell you, Mom.”
His mother nodded with a smile.
“All right, come downstairs and eat.”
After his mother left, Jovan picked up the letter again.
He felt there was something he needed to find out.
At school, Jovan still couldn't get the letter out of his mind. Even when his friend Raka called his name several times, he didn't hear him right away.
“Jovan!”
Jovan jumped.
“Huh? What?”
Raka chuckled.
“I've been calling you this whole time. What are you thinking about? Don't tell me you're worried about your math test grade.”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Jovan hesitated for a few moments.
He wanted to tell Raka, but he still wasn't sure.
Finally, he pulled out his notebook and showed Raka the letter.
Raka read it with a serious expression.
“Where'd you get this?”
“In front of my house.”
“Who gave it to you?”
“I don't know.”
Raka examined the paper more closely.
“Jovan, this isn't an ordinary letter.”
“What do you mean?”
“Look at this part.”
Raka pointed to the small writing beneath the letter.
Jovan realized there was writing he hadn't noticed before.
“If you've read this, then the time has come.”
Jovan snatched up the letter.
“Time for what?”
Raka shook his head.
“I don't know either. But it looks like whoever made this letter was deliberately waiting for you to find it.”
Jovan felt even more curious—and afraid.
“Who do you think made it?”
Raka was silent for a moment.
“I have one guess.”
“What?”
“Someone who knows something about your family.”
Jovan immediately looked at Raka.
“My family?”
Raka nodded slowly.
“I've heard stories from people around here. They say something big happened in the neighborhood around your house a long time ago.”
Jovan furrowed his brow.
“What happened?”
“Not many people know. But apparently, someone left suddenly and never came back.”
Jovan's heart began to pound.
“Who was it?”
Raka didn't have a chance to answer before the bell rang.
“I'll tell you later. For now, let's get to class.”
Throughout the lesson, Jovan couldn't focus. Raka's words kept circling through his mind.
Someone who left.
Something big that happened.
A family secret.
After school, Jovan decided not to go straight home. He walked toward a place he rarely visited: an old house not far from his own.
The house had been empty for years.
People around there often said it was unoccupied because its owner had moved away for no clear reason.
Jovan stood in front of the rusted gate.
“What does this place have to do with the letter?”
He slowly opened the gate. The old metal screeched loudly in the middle of the silence.
When he entered the yard, he saw something on the ground.
A small brown envelope.
Jovan stopped.
It couldn't be a coincidence.
With trembling hands, he picked up the envelope.
There was only one line written on the front.
“For Jovan.”
Jovan swallowed.
“Who keeps sending all this stuff?”
He slowly opened the envelope.
Inside was an old photograph.
A photograph of someone familiar to him.
Jovan froze the moment he saw the face in the picture.
“That’s...”
His hands began to tremble.
The person in the photograph was someone he had always believed could never have anything to do with this secret.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps behind him.
Jovan turned around at once.
Someone stood near the gate of the old house.
“So you finally found the second letter.”
Jovan took several steps back.
“Who are you?”
The person said nothing.
“I've been waiting a long time for you to get here, Jovan.”
Jovan gripped the photograph tightly.
“Answer me. Who are you?”
The person slowly walked closer.
“I'm the one who knows why that letter was made.”
Jovan stared at the person suspiciously.
“And I also know why your family hid everything from you.”
The surroundings suddenly fell silent.
Jovan realized that the letter he had found wasn't the beginning of a problem.
It was a door leading to a great secret that had been locked away all this time.