Lorelei

The room was dark when I finally opened my eyes.

Not the darkness of night—the curtains were drawn, blocking out whatever light the afternoon might have offered—but the darkness of a space that had been sealed against the world. I was still on the sofa, still curled into a ball, still facing the window I couldn't see through. My body was heavy, weighted down by something I couldn't name, and my chest ached with a pain that had no physical source.

I hadn't moved since Nikolai ...