?Chapter 1043:


    Sadie and Noah made a beeline for the back hill the attendant had indicated earlier.


    The back hill sprawled before them—a neglected corner of the cemetery that stood in harsh opposition to the meticulously groomed main grounds.


    No orderly rows of tombstones greeted them—only haphazard mounds of earth surrendered to decay. Weeds had imed dominion here, and abandonment hung thick in the air.


    With each footfall, Sadie’s heart seemed to plunge deeper into an emotional quicksand, pulling her down with inexorable force.


    Seventeen years had psed—seventeen years of aching for her parents through countless days and sleepless nights. Could this deste wastnd truly be their final resting ce?


    Noah studied her rigid silhouette, a leaden weight descending upon his chest as he witnessed her silent struggle.


    Her pain radiated outward, palpable in the desperation that propelled each of her movements.


    Together they forged through the tall grass, methodically examining every weathered headstone for a familiar inscription.


    In ces, the wild grass stretched nearly to their shoulders, and certain areas were devoid of any semnce of a path. They muscled their way through the dense, intertwined vegetation.


    As night deepened, their search intensified in difficulty. The moon cast merely a feeble luminescence, scarcely illuminating their path. Sadie’s apprehension mounted with every ticking moment, coiling tighter around her chest.


    Her breath grew shallow and rapid, her gaze darting frantically across each patch of earth where a marker might lie concealed.


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    Noah extracted his phone and activated its shlight, the sharp beam slicing through the oppressive darkness like a luminous de. He meticulously swept the beam across every mound and eroded stone, revealing forgotten names one by one.


    They ventured forward, prating deeper into the heart of the forgotten hill.


    Minutes stretched into an indeterminate blur as perspiration beaded on Sadie’s brow—whether from physical strain or mounting dread, she couldn’t discern.


    Then, obscured behind an unruly thicket of weeds, her eyestched onto a humble stone marker.


    The marker was diminutive, partially submerged in earth, and draped in a velvet cloak of moss.


    Had Noah’s light not struck it at precisely the right angle, the stone would have remained invisible to their searching eyes.


    Faded characters etched into the surface whispered names from another time.


    Sadie delicately pushed the tangled growth aside, her motions deliberate and reverent, as though handling something hallowed and irreceable.


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