Selena.
They returned me to my room without ceremony.
No apology. No explanation. Just a pair of guards walking me back through halls I knew too well, their footsteps echoing as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. As if I had not been locked away beneath the ground and forgotten.
The door closed behind me with a soft click.
I stood there for a long moment, my hand still resting on the handle, listening to my own breathing. The room looked the same as I had left it. The bed was neatly made. The curtains are half-drawn. The quiet was almost mocking in its normalcy.
I went to the bath first.
The water steamed as it filled the tub, the sound steady and grounding. I undressed slowly, every movement careful, as if my body needed reassurance that it was safe now. When I lowered mys
