It was becoming harder to sleep at night.
Every time I closed my eyes, my mind clawed back open, restless, circling the same prison of thoughts.
The manor's walls felt tighter with each passing night. I wanted nothing more than to escape, but I could not see a way without dragging my mother into peril. Finn had her under his thumb now as surely as he had me.
If I ran and failed, he would make me watch her suffer for my mistake.
So I couldn't move.
Dying slowly in the quiet hours of the night.
I curled beneath the covers, listening to the endless tick of silence, until exhaustion finally forced me under.
***
When my eyes opened again, I was home.
The sight was so sudden, so absolute, that my chest clenched tight.
My old room lay around me exactly as I remembered it.
