We didn’t talk about her for three days.

It was as if silence could make it final.

No mention of the veil, or the last threat she spat before being led out.

Adrian buried himself in work. Vanessa screened every call. Granny resumed her morning walks like nothing happened.

But the air in the house changed.

Not the kind of change you feel immediately—the kind that creeps.

Like a draft in an old room.

I started dreaming of locked doors.

Every night, I walked through a house ...