OLIVIA’S POV
I woke up slowly.
That was the first strange thing. I never woke up slowly. For weeks it had been eyes snapping open at three in the morning with my heart already racing, already counting bills, already rehearsing conversations I was dreading. Sleep had become something that happened to other people.
But this morning I surfaced gradually, like something being lifted gently from deep water. The mattress was softer than anything I had ever slept on. The room was quiet in a way my apartment never was. No traffic. No pipes. No thin walls carrying the sound of neighbors arguing or laughing or living too loudly.
Just stillness.
I lay there for a moment staring at the ceiling.
Then I remembered where I was.
I turned my head slowly and looked at the room. The tall windows with
