The knock does not register at first.
I am still on the floor where I collapsed, my back against the door, my legs drawn up like I am trying to fold myself small enough to disappear. Time has stopped behaving normally. Minutes stretch and collapse in on themselves, and I am not sure how long I have been sitting here when the sound finally reaches me. A sharp knock. Then another.
I do not move.
The door opens anyway.
“Lila?” Maya’s voice cuts through the quiet, sharp with concern. “Lila?”
I realize distantly that the door must be unlocked. I do not remember unlocking it. I do not remember standing up. I do not remember anything between sliding down the door and this moment, which feels like waking up in the middle of a scene already in progress.
Maya appears in my line of sight, her b
