20
5 DAYS REMAINING
Alice woke up a little after five. A night in the noisy white box fridge that sat under the dresser table was enough to save the yogurt and to cool a large bottle of mineral water. She chugged half the water, demolished a yogurt and threw open the curtains to let a clear, sunny day in. The clouds had broken overnight, sheeting down with rain and coaxing Alice in and out of dreams.
She rolled out the wrapping paper on the bed and tore off a large sheet. She pinned it opposite the end of her bed, where there was a clear expanse of cream-painted wall. She repeated the exercise twice, lining vertical strips up tight against each other. With a large, blank space to fill, she began with the photos she'd taken in Brooke's room. She saved the images to her laptop and ran the
