Third Person POV
Sonita turned the page. The words on it did not reach her. She had read this section three times already and each time the sentences slid through her mind and left nothing behind.
She kept her eyes on the page anyway because the alternative was sitting in a quiet cottage with her thoughts and her thoughts were not cooperative today.
She looked up.
The room was still. The fire had settled into a low steady burn. The second cup on the shelf had not moved. The extra sleeping mat was rolled against the wall where it always was in the mornings.
Helen was not in the cottage.
Sonita had not noticed the exact moment she registered this, but she registered it now. The particular quality of the silence was different from the silence of someone being quiet in a nearby room. It was the silence of a space that only had one person in it.
"Helen," she called.
Nothing came back.
"Helen." Louder.
Still nothing.
