LAVENDER’S POV.
The town is smaller than I imagined, not in a disappointing way, just quieter. As if it exists on a gentler frequency than the world I ran from. The streets don’t rush. The people don’t hurry past one another with their heads down. Even the air feels slower here, thicker, like it expects you to stay a while.
Aunty Tracy calls it peace. I’m not sure I deserve that word yet.
We arrived yesterday, just before sunset, the sky bruised purple and gold as if the day itself was tired of holding everything together. Aunty Tracy was there encouraging me, the entire way, stopping only once when I went pale and dizzy and she wordlessly handed me a bottle of water and a biscuit. She didn’t ask what was wrong. She already knew something was. That’s always been her way, seeing without
