The Hollow Between Breaths
London did not feel like London. Not the way it used to. The Lannister Estate stood as grand and untouched as ever, its elegance unshaken by time or sorrow. The long corridors remained polished, the chandeliers still cast their golden glow, and the gardens beyond the tall windows bloomed with quiet perfection. Everything was exactly as it had always been. Except Maya. She moved through the estate like a shadow of herself. Present. But not entirely there. Adela noticed it first. It was in the way Maya smiled—too easily, too quickly, like a practiced response rather than a genuine emotion. It was in the way she sat through conversations, nodding at the right moments but rarely adding anything of substance. It was in the way her laughter came half a second too late, soft and hollow,
- Writer
