Chapter 62 The Quiet Between Sirens

***Hazel***

The guest room is too quiet.

Not peaceful. Not calm. Just… hollow.

I sit on the edge of the bed, shoes still on, jacket folded in my lap like I might need to run again. The house hums softly around me, security systems, distant footsteps, doors locking somewhere else, but none of it reaches inside my chest where everything feels scraped raw.

Jocelyn knocks once, then pushes the door op