Become Ashes

Amir returns to his hometown after a decade away, only to find everything turned to ash — not just literally. His childhood home is a burnt-out lot where local teens now hold secret gatherings. His first encounter with a childhood friend, now working at a funeral home, dissolves into awkward silence under an old lilac tree that somehow survived. The city plans to build a mall over the ruins, but Amir uncovers a box of letters from his mother, whom he believed long dead. Written in an Arabic he barely understands, these letters become a key to a mystery that forces him to question everything he knew about his family and the cause of that ancient fire.