All Chapters of SIR: Chapter 201 - Chapter 203

The alarm goes off at six and Elias is already awake.He lies there for a moment listening to it, then reaches over and turns it off, and then lies there for another moment while the habit of the morning reassembles itself in his body.His eyes open to the familiar crack in the ceiling of his old apartment, and for a moment everything feels normal. Then the weight of the last few weeks crashes down on him. No uniform hanging on the chair. No early bus to catch. No Lucia waiting at the end of the hallway with that flirty look she gives him when no one’s looking. He was expelled yesterday and for the first time in a while, his life holds no purpose.He sits up slowly, careful of the healing wound in his chest, swings his legs over the side of the bed and stands, moving through the small space on autopilot.His mother’s door is still shut. She sleeps late on the days after her bad nights, and last night was a bad night, he heard her through the wall at two in the morning, moving ar

Eli stands in front of the small mirror in his room, buttoning a clean shirt he has not worn since his last day at Westbridge. The fabric feels stiff against his skin after weeks of old t-shirts and gym clothes. He runs a hand through his hair and checks the time on his phone. The woman on the phone yesterday had introduced herself simply as Selene and asked to meet at a quiet café across town. She had not given many details, but something in her voice made him agree. Now he wonders if he should have said no.A ragged cough echoes from his mother’s room down the short hallway. He pauses with his fingers on the last button. The sound comes again, deeper this time, like it hurts and continues for a while as he counts the seconds. When they finally stop, Eli walks to her door and pushes it open gently. His mother is lying in bed, propped against thin pillows, her face pale and drawn as the room smells of stale air and the faint medicinal tang of the pills on her nightstand.“Mom,” he say