QUEENETH’S POVI wake up expecting to feel something.Pain.Power.That familiar pressure behind my ribs.Amy.Anything.For a few seconds, I just lie there.The ceiling above me is the same one I have stared at a hundred times. A small crack runs from the corner near the window, disappearing behind the old wooden beam. Morning light slips through the curtains and paints a thin line across the floor.Everything looks normal.That should make me feel better.It doesn’t.I wait.Usually, Amy is there before I’m fully awake.Sometimes she complains about the cold.Sometimes she tells me to go back to sleep.Sometimes she just sits quietly inside me, warm and familiar, like another heartbeat tucked beneath my own.This morning there is nothing.I swallow.My eyes close again.Maybe she’s tired.Maybe after everything that happened, she needs rest.“Amy?”Nothing.My stomach drops.I sit up too quickly.The room tilts.I grab the edge of the mattress until it settles, breathing through my
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