Friday finally arrived.
Sylvie noticed it the moment she opened her eyes that morning, how the air felt thicker. It wasn’t dread exactly. It wasn’t excitement either. It was that uneasy in-between feeling, the kind that sat quietly in the chest and waited for the day to unfold before deciding what it wanted to be.
She lay still for a while, staring upward, already knowing she wanted the day to end before it even truly began.
By the time she got ready for work, she had already made a decision: I’m leaving early today.
She didn’t tell anyone. Not Mrs. Harrington or Ryan. It was just a private mental note she carried with her through breakfast, through the drive to the office, through the first hours of work where she pretended, very convincingly, that everything was normal.
But the cloc
