The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the quiet.
Not the ordinary quiet of early morning, but the kind that lingered after something had already happened. Like a room after an argument. Like air after a storm.
I didn't move.
My body felt heavy against the mattress, limbs slow, thoughts even slower. My eyes stayed closed while fragments drifted at the edges of my mind. Darkness. Pressure. The feeling of something watching. Reaching.
A nightmare.
I remembered the fear before I remembered the details. That suffocating weight pressing down on my chest, the sense that if I moved, something would notice me.
Then the peace.
It had come suddenly. Not fading, not gradual. One moment panic, the next… warmth. Quiet. Like being wrapped in something that refused to let harm touch me.
My fingers brushed my throat.
The necklace rested there, cool now, innocent.
Of course.
A slow breath left me. "You again," I murmured.
