Lydia's Point Of View
The call ended.
Just like that. No warning. No reassurance. No plan. Just… Silence.
I stared at my phone, my vision tunneling until nothing else existed but that blank screen. Hard. Like if I concentrated long enough, willed it fiercely enough, it would ring again. Like he'd call back and fix everything. Say something… anything, that would make sense out of this mess, that would restore the order I'd so carefully constructed.
But the screen stayed dark. Unmoving. Unhelpful. A perfect mirror of my current situation. My grip tightened around the device, my fingers curling until the edges dug into my palm, leaving small crescents in the flesh.
"…seriously?" The word escaped as barely more than a whisper, bitter on my tongue.
The hallway felt too open. Too exposed. People were still whispering, their voices creating a low hum that made my skin crawl. Still talking. Still looking. I could feel it, that particular weight of being watched.
Even without turning.
