Jennifer’s POV
The silence pressed on me like a second skin.
Not just quiet — oppressive, smothering, the kind that seemed to sink into my bones until every breath echoed too loudly in my own ears. Jack leaned against the far wall, arms folded, face carved from stone, eyes fixed somewhere beyond me.
I hated silence like that. It reminded me too much of nights back at my father’s house—those brittle hours when I couldn’t sleep and every creak of the floorboard felt like it was warning me that something worse was about to happen.
So, I did what I always did.
I talked.
At first, it was nonsense. The woods. The way the branches arched above like the ceiling of some ancient church. The strange calls at night that always made me wonder if someone was out there, whispering.
When he still d
