I woke up prior to daybreak. The air within the room was still, as though it hadn't moved throughout the night, and I lay there under the covers for a while, my eyes open, observing the slight angle of light creeping up the wall. Something was different about how quiet the house was, but it wasn't suffocating. It was peace. I rolled onto my back and reached to the spot above my heart, fingers curling over the hem of my nightshirt. Stanley's words echoed in that quiet corner of my mind, in that space I kept for things I hadn't processed yet.
“You don't have to do anything. Just let me be here.”
Let him be here? The words settled on my chest, warm and unsettling at the same time.
I eventually forced myself out of bed and marched to the kitchen, still in pyjamas and socks, my hair a tangl
