~Samantha Lee~

The ceiling in my new bedroom was a vast, unforgiving white. I'd counted 1,472 imaginary sheep, named every state capital alphabetically, and mentally replayed the final three seconds of last season's championship game at least fifty times. Still, sleep was a luxury I apparently no longer deserved.

My sheets were twisted around my legs, damp with a cold sweat that had nothing to do with the temperature. Every time I closed my eyes, the scene replayed in my head, how my mother's ...