Leah insisted on coming with me when I told her I needed to go back to my house. I did not argue. Not because I wanted company, but because I was afraid of what I might find alone.
The walk through town felt surreal. Wolves moved aside quietly, giving me wide space, like grief was contagious. Snow drifted softly across the pavement, the flakes catching the afternoon light. Everything looked too normal for a world where I kept hearing whispers in the dark.
My mother’s house appeared around the corner like a ghost from another life. The curtains still drawn. The lights still off. The porch still dusted with snow no one had brushed away since she died. A knot twisted in my stomach.
Leah squeezed my arm gently. “Ready.”
“No,” I said. “But let us go anyway.”
Inside, the air was cold. Not s
