Selena.
Night settled slowly over the cave, stretching long and heavy as though the world itself was reluctant to give way to the darkness, and I remained exactly where they had told me to stay.
I was seated near the edge of the entrance with my back pressed against the cool stone, my hands resting loosely in my lap even though my fingers would not stop trembling no matter how tightly I tried to still them.
The fire before me burned low, its faint crackle the only steady sound at first, and I focused on it with more attention than it deserved, watching the flames bend and flicker as though they might anchor me to something real, something unchanged, something that had not been taken from me within the span of a single day.
I had done everything they asked.
I had cooked for them.
