Some wounds don't heal overnight.
Some fears don't disappear because someone promises they will.
And some scars remain long after the pain is gone.
Lily understood that now.
More than ever.
The days following Claire's latest threat felt strangely calm.
Too calm.
The kind of calm that made people nervous.
The kind that usually arrived before a storm.
Yet despite everything, life continued.
Classes continued.
Students continued.
The world continued.
As if nobody realized how much had changed.
As if nobody understood that Lily's entire life had become a puzzle she couldn't solve.
A puzzle connected to Claire.
Connected to Ethan.
Connected to a past she couldn't even remember.
The thought followed her everywhere.
Even now.
As she sat beneath the large oak tree near the univ
