The Nurse and her Patient

I spent the rest of the day wandering the halls of the mansion like a ghost until I thought I might actually lose my mind. Enzo checked in periodically but they felt like scheduled programming. By the time it was late into the noon, the silence was suffocating. I'd tried everything. Reading books from Giovanni's library (all in Italian, naturally), rearranging furniture in my room (pointless), even counting the crystals on the chandelier (two hundred and forty-seven, in case anyone cared). Nothing worked. The quiet pressed against my skull like a vice. I need to hear a familiar voice. Just one. Just for a second. The thought consumed me until I couldn't ignore it anymore. I'd seen a landline in one of the sitting rooms during my supervised wanderings with Enzo. An actual telephone with an actual cord, like something from a museum. At the time, I'd filed it away as useless information. Now, it was a lifeline. I waited until Enzo left after lunch, citing "business to handle." The moment