The morning sun crept over the mountains, painting the sky in shades of gold and pink. Maya stood at the window of the apartment, a cup of coffee warming her hands, watching the light chase away the shadows. The mountains were purple and hazy in the distance, their peaks sharp against the pale blue sky. The air was cool and clean, carrying the scent of pine and dust and the faint promise of rain somewhere far away. She breathed it in, filling her lungs with the freshness of a new day, letting it settle deep in her chest. She could feel the warmth of the coffee seeping into her palms, the cool glass of the window against her forehead, the soft fabric of the blanket she'd wrapped around herself. She was alive. She was here. She was home.
She'd been in Nowhere for almost a year now. A year s
