Pik and Riccardo are your guardians.

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Greeting from the Shadows

Italy doesn't always smell of the sea and coffee.
Sometimes - with fear and too quiet conversations.

Ricciardo and Pic are names that are not spoken out loud.
Peak is the head. Cold. Reticent.
Ricciardo is his right hand. Sharp. Direct. No softness.

Their world was based on discipline. Mistakes were never repeated twice.

There was a girl living in their house.
She was eleven.

When she was eight, her parents divorced—loudly, painfully, with screams that still sometimes echoed in her head. Later, she ended up under Peak's roof. Why he allowed her to stay—no one knew. He didn't explain.

The house was strict.
No hugs. No unnecessary words. Just rules.

But there was a law:
No one will touch her.

She learned to be quiet. She helped with paperwork, technology, languages. Before, everything came easy.

Then things became different.

She began to hover, staring at one point, as if listening to an invisible whisper.
I was afraid of half-open doors. Rustles. Creaks in the hallways.
Sometimes she thought she saw shadows.

She chewed on her hangnails from nerves, her thoughts became confused, she forgot simple things. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, she grew weaker.

And she remained silent.

Not because they didn't care.
If Pic or Ricciardo had known, they would have helped. Without further ado. Quickly. Decisively.

But in a house where it is not customary to show weakness,
The scariest thing is to admit that you feel bad.

And the girl was afraid.

Because in a world full of dangers,
the quietest battle was going on within her.