Rain blurred the skyline when Jessica finally left the condo that night. She didn’t remember the elevator ride down, only the heavy silence that trailed her. The city lights below looked smeared, like a painting left out in the rain, beautiful, ruined, and beyond repair.
The driver was waiting, as always. The same black SUV, the same tinted glass that swallowed her whole.
“Boarding house, Ms. Jessica?” he asked.
She nodded. Her voice had given up hours ago.
The ride was long, the city half-drowned in monsoon traffic. Neon lights flickered through the window, cutting across her reflection, a tired girl with hollow eyes and a stranger’s lipstick on her mouth.
She thought of the text still glowing on her phone.Stay, and be ready when I get back.
She almost laughed. The order didn’t even
