I glance around my room. The walls are painted sage green, the kind of color meant to be calming. There’s a small window across from the bed, but all I can see beyond it is a stretch of dirt and rock. It’s full night now, and the darkness outside feels still but heavy. Watching.
From what I gathered, the house has five bedrooms. The guys all took rooms upstairs. Mine’s the only one down here past the kitchen. It’s quiet. The place must be well insulated, because I can’t hear a single footstep or voice above me. Maybe everyone’s as exhausted as I am. Maybe they’re putting off the debrief until tomorrow.
I pull back the thick tan comforter and climb into bed. My body aches, my brain won’t settle, and even though I feel completely on edge… I’m too drained to dwell on any of it.
Sleep is the only escape left tonight. And even that feels uncertain.
I roll onto my side and stare at the window, watching the faint outline of the field beyond shift with the breeze.
Mischka appears.
She curls into my chest, her little ghost body giving off a faint shimmer, like moonlight captured in motion. She wiggles with excitement, nose nudging under my chin, and I smiledespite everything. I press a kiss to the top of her silvery-blue head and exhale, waiting for sleep to pull me under.
For the first time today, I almost feel safe.
Then she yips.
My eyes snap open. I don’t know how long I was asleep.
A second later, I hear it… the creak of my doorknob turning.
Chapter Three
LOG THREE – EMOTIONAL RESPONSE TRIGGERED: SHE SMILED. IT DIDN’T FEEL HUMAN.
“You awake?”
I know it’s Cade, not from his voice but from the way Mischka lights up the second she sees him. She remembers him too, and my heart does a little squeeze at the sight of it.
She launches over my shoulder in a flurry of excitement, doing ghostly zoomies across the bed before circling his feet in frantic, happy loops. A fat smile spreads across my face.
“I didn’t expect you to be this excited to see me,” Cade says, his lips curling into a smile. “But honestly, it’s a relief.”
I shake my head, forcing my gaze off Mischka and up to his face. “What are you doing here?”
He takes it as an invitation, stepping inside and nudging the door shut with his foot before kicking off his shoes.
“Can I sit?” he asks, nodding toward the foot of the bed.
I shift upright and wave him over. “Be my guest.”
He drops onto the edge of the mattress across from me, and an awkward moment passes. Not uncomfortable exactly but full of everything unsaid.
Mish curls into a ball right in Cade’s lap.
Little traitor.
I open my mouth to hide the smile tugging at the corners of my lips.
“Before you say anything,” Cade starts, running a hand over his dark hair, “let me explain.”
I meet his emerald eyes and lean back against the headboard, bracing for whatever’s coming.
It’s strange, seeing him now. He still looks like the Cade I remember, but time has carved its way into him. His jaw is sharper, more defined. His black hair is a little longer, messier. And there are faint creases in his forehead that didn’t used to be there. He’s older, rougher around the edges, but underneath it all… he’s still him. I think.
“After the car accident, I was messed up,” he says, taking a long breath. “But… I went to your room. You were in a coma. The doctors wouldn’t let me see you after that. They told me you died.”
His eyes drop to the floor like the weight of the memory is too much to carry. Like if he looks at me while saying it, it might break something inside him.
