The next morning, I awoke feeling more drained than I had anticipated. The exhaustion weighed heavily on me, and I could barely muster the energy to get up. I had missed my shift at the bakery and was already running late for the diner. Deciding to forgo the bakery shift entirely, I dragged myself out of bed later in the day, forcing myself to prepare for work at the diner.
I tried to have a simple breakfast, grabbing a banana as I headed out. The familiar routine of walking to the diner now seemed foreign. The once-comforting smells of food now felt overwhelming and nauseating. Each scent, each noise, seemed to amplify the new reality I was facing.
Work at the diner was a blur of moving through the motions while my mind was preoccupied with the torrent of questions and concerns about my
