Viktoria POV
It’s Monday morning, and for some strange, shapeless reason, I can’t bring myself to face the day. There’s no clear trigger, no exact moment my mood dipped. Its just this dull heaviness sitting low inside me. A tugging unease like the beginning of a storm.
My parents got back from their business trip last night with good news, and the house should feel warm and alive this morning but it isn't. Mom even makes my favorite breakfast, pancakes with pepper sauce, crispy at the edges, soft in the middle, exactly how I love them. But I only stare at the plate glumly as she talks.
“. . . and then the woman from the neighboring town said she wants forty more baskets next week!” my mother says, excited. “Can you imagine? Forty?”
“Your mother nearly fainted from joy,” father chimes i
