Stella lay in bed, eyes awake yet again, the light from her ceiling burning her eyes. She waved her hand with muscle memory to try to turn it off, but nothing came out. There was nothing.
The room felt unbearably still around her, with only the faint hum of the device and the occasional sound from outside breaking through the silence. The blanket felt heavy against her body, yet it offered no comfort. Even the smallest movement felt like something she had to force herself to do.
Not a word or even the slightest noise could come out of her lips. She had become accustomed to it but was still unable to process it. Her magic was gone, and there was nothing she could do about it. She could not even perform the simplest task in a world run on magic; the simple essence of what every human had was something she did not. She placed her hand on her chest. She could feel the staggered movement with a small thud each second; her body, her life, was nothing more than a glitch in the system.
