I didn’t mean to relax. Didn’t plan to. But exhaustion has a way of lying to me.
At first, my breathing stayed tight and shallow under the blanket. My fingers still clenched the edge like claws. My knees were pulled up high, muscles coiled and ready to run-even in sleep. But slowly..too slowly to notice..my arms eased. My jaw unlocked. My heartbeat, once wild and pounding, faced into something steadier-still uneasy, but softer.
The cold in the room didn’t bite as hard through the layers of the fabric. The scent of the sheets-clean, faint, unfamiliar, wrapped around me like a trick I wanted to believe.
The blanket felt warmer.
The mattress felt deeper.
The silence felt..almost kind. My breath stretched longer. Heavier. My mouth parted just a little, like my lungs finally trusted the a
