Callie’s POV
I had to be losing my mind.
I was still sitting on the bathroom floor, curled into a corner, feeling incapable of doing anything—terrified, yet at the same time revitalized, strong, as if I could move the entire world if I wanted to. So much so that I could smell my mother’s cheap, sweet perfume from where I was, mixed with the painkillers still circulating through her body, seeping out through her warm, calm sweat—the kind of stillness of someone sleeping deeply. I could hear her breathing, the slow rise and fall of her chest… and beyond that, if I focused, I could hear the neighbors talking, another argument about money never being enough.
What was happening to me?
Why could I feel—know—all of this?
“This wasn’t supposed to happen like this, Callie. I’m really sorry. I
