FREYA
The room they’d put me in was too quiet.
Too big, too strange, and too silent for my liking.
At first, I tried to stay still, sitting on the edge of the bed like an obedient child who didn’t want to make any noise in a stranger’s house. The food the lady had brought earlier sat heavy in my stomach; I hadn’t meant to eat as much as I did, but hunger had won the battle against suspicion. Still, once the edge of my hunger was dulled, the walls started to feel like they were pressing in on me.
I didn’t belong here. I knew it with every breath.
But how long could I sit in that bed, staring at the carved ceiling beams, pretending I wasn’t curious? Pretending I wasn’t restless?
I swung my legs off the bed and stood. My body was stiff, though not as bad as I expected after what had hap
