She smelled the hospital on her jacket the whole bus ride home.
Six months of visiting and it had soaked into everything. Antiseptic and that other smell underneath it...the one she couldn't name but recognised instantly. The smell of people waiting.
Her mother's hand had been cold again today.
It was always cold.
Lilith pressed her forehead against the bus window and watched the city move past and didn't think about anything at all. That was the skill she'd developed over the last six months. The ability to go completely blank when the alternative was falling apart on public transport.
She was good at it now.
Lilith got off the bus two blocks early and walked. Not for any particular reason. Just because the apartment felt smaller every time she came back to it and she needed an extra two minutes before she had to be inside it again.
She climbed the three flights of stairs. The elevator had been broken for four months and nobody was fixing it.
She unlocked her door.
