Bailey’s POV
I keep my distance after that night, not because it is easy but because it feels necessary, like if I bend even a little everything ugly will rush back in, so I eat alone, I stay behind closed doors, I speak only to Leila and even then I choose my words carefully, because the house feels like it is listening.
“I’m fine,” I tell her every morning when she asks, and at first it is true enough.
Until it isn’t.
I wake up one morning drenched in sweat, my head heavy and my skin burning, and when I push the blanket off me it feels like the air itself is warm, like my body is holding too much of something and does not know what to do with it.
“Okay,” I whisper, sitting up slowly, “This is not normal.”
I press my palm to my forehead and flinch, and my heart starts to race even t
