She lay in bed replaying the nightmare against what she could remember from reality, tossing and turning the whole time. Eventually, she gave up trying to get back to sleep and got up, dressing in a pair of pajama pants and a light shirt, and went to her desk to study for her eventual thesis defense. She knew all the material by heart, so reviewing it was always a sure-fire way to get her to fall asleep. Not this morning. She was slowly slogging her way through the paper when she heard the sound of her parent’s alarm go off. Two sets of footsteps went plodding in two different directions. One disappeared into the master bathroom while the other went to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee.
Alessia stayed silent in her room. She didn’t want to see her parents yet. She was afraid of what th
