Chapter 18: First Shift
The ceiling of her bedroom has seventeen water stains from the leak in the roof that David keeps promising to fix. Ella has counted them at least fifty times since darkness fell, her mind latching onto the mundane detail as a way to avoid thinking about everything else that's spiraling out of control. The digital clock on her nightstand glows 11:47 PM in accusatory red numbers, marking another sleepless night in what's becoming an endless string of them.
Downstairs, she can hear Margaret and David moving around the kitchen with the careful quietness of parents trying not to wake a child they know isn't sleeping. They've been tiptoeing around her since she returned from Nightfang Manor, offering gentle conversations and comfort food that she has no appetite for. Ho
