Chapter 13

Chapter 13. Night fell silently. There was no wind. There was no rain. Yet Liora remained awake, her breath caught in her throat, as if something were pressing down on her chest from within. She sat on the edge of the bed, hugging the thin blanket that had lost its warmth since midnight. The small apartment was quiet, too quiet, so much so that the ticking of the clock on the wall sounded like a heartbeat pounding in her head. The crying came again. Not from outside. Not from Nolan's room. From inside her head. The crying of a baby, intermittent, hoarse, as if gasping for breath. Liora covered her ears, but the sound only grew clearer. The smell of antiseptic seemed to fill her nose again. The bright white light blinded her eyes. The pain in her stomach spread again, so real that she shivered. “No… it’s over,” she whispered, more like a plea than a belief. But the past never truly leaves. It only waits until Liora is weak enough to remember it again. The attack did not come in the