Chapter 39

Maren

The apartment was too quiet.

Usually, I liked quiet. It meant peace, control, enough room for me to breathe and think. But tonight, quiet felt like the walls were closing in, pressing against my ribs, leaving me restless.

I’d tried everything.

I’d opened my textbooks, flipped through chapters I knew I had to study, highlighted passages that blurred into meaningless streaks of neon yellow. I’