I had another dream.
This time, it was not about my mother.
It was about Sydney, and the other girls.
There were Christopher and my other friends.
The dream did not contain anything important. There was no battle, no desperate escape, no world-ending revelation. It was just a collection of ordinary moments.
Small memories.
Random moments.
Nothing extraordinary.
Maybe that was why waking up hurt so much.
For a short time, I had been surrounded by warmth. By familiar voices. By people who made the world feel less empty.
Then reality returned.
I opened my eyes slowly.
Darkness greeted me.
For a moment, I did not move. I simply stared ahead, trying to understand where I was. A faint strip of light entered through the small basement window near the ceiling. Dust floated through it, illuminated by the weak morning sun.
Morning.
I had slept through the night.
