abe

d've bought th

when you don't expect to have neighbors or prying eyes. Which I didn't. Bu

the window like

nd beside me. 2:14 AM. The cottage creaked like it was complaining about its age.

ly, so do b

read every listicle on "calming nighttime rituals" known to man. I'd already done a warm shower, peppermint tea, five minu

al knock, just a wind-slammed branch, had jol

thing sounded

ghter, and pulled the blanket up over my

arently, I

ror movies. My thoughts had cycled through home invasion, axe murderer, and vengeful ghost of a forme

thump outside the window again. Not the scratch of a branch this time. A

nch of my skin l

o

t be rid

n the middle of the night. That's a vampire thing. O

turned on the flashlight, then

nothing in

palm to the

mething stupid like a raccoon

eep-deprived and dramatic. But my nerves weren't listenin

fell aslee

*

ts. Bright and

people in suits waved microphones and shouted questions I couldn't understand. Cameras

pened my mouth to ans

e kind of smile you put on when you're w

sweetly, "You shouldn't

ything we

nt of a monitor playing a looped interview.

aid. "Always reading my wor

ed. Someone whispe

et at first, then louder. It fille

un and slamme

o

dark and empty. His hands gripped my shoulders and he lea

g, skin damp and breat

still

hat had just happened. The blanket was tang

a d

a d

didn't bel

se settle. I knew that dream. Not the exact details, but the flavor of it. The sha

ersion of Nadia wasn't even th

*

chen, hair a mess, hoodie three sizes too big, and turned on the kettle. The floor was cold beneath my bare f

the tiny kitchen table

rote. A full-blown sham

d a rough

rpet (

voice

into a shad

My subconsci

gainst my lip and

t meant. I was still angry, still humiliated an

rious about a ma

ext page and start

believed her. And sometimes, when people don't believe you, it d

one was asking questions. Just one man wit

and put th

s dramatic as hel

in this whole town I'd felt something real with, even if it had

if that made him com

e he was doing math behind those eyes. Not in a creepy way but in a cal

whole other level of confusing, given that I had literally j

window, watching the sunl

part where the main girl ignored the sign

. I wasn't stupid,

ty didn't just kill the cat,