Lydia's Point Of View
The silence in my office felt… wrong, like something was waiting, holding its breath in the corners where the light didn't quite reach.
I flipped a page in the file before me, eyes scanning through the lines, but the words didn't land. They slid right past me, useless, unimportant. My mind refused to absorb them, no matter how many times I dragged my gaze across the same paragraph.
My pen tapped lightly against the desk. Once. Twice. Then faster, the rhythm matching the restless energy building in my chest.
"This is a waste of time."
I exhaled sharply through my nose, leaning back slightly in my chair, eyes narrowing at the neat stack of files sitting on the corner of my desk like they had the audacity to exist. Like they mattered.
"Busy work. That's all this is."
