The soft light of early morning filtered through the sheer curtains, casting delicate patterns across the walls like faint, shifting shadows. The pale glow touched everything—gentle and indifferent—spilling over the worn furniture, the small clock beside the bed, and finally, over Sasha herself.
Beneath the thin blanket, Sasha lay unmoving, her body weighed down by a bone-deep exhaustion that clung to her like a second skin. She didn’t open her eyes right away. Instead, she let the silence wrap around her, pressing against her ears like cotton, dull and heavy.
It had been another sleepless night.
Her pillow was still damp, the fabric cool beneath her cheek where tears had soaked through hours ago. Her throat felt raw, tight from the effort of swallowing sobs she hadn’t allowed to escap
