**CHAPTER 025**I woke up before my alarm.That never happened.I lay there for a moment, blinking at the ceiling, waiting for the familiar heavy feeling that usually came with mornings—the weight of everything that needed to be processed before I could properly function. But it wasn’t there. My head was clear. My body felt rested in a way it hadn’t in days.Hmm, I thought.I sat up slowly, half expecting something to hurt, but nothing did. I pressed both hands over my stomach the way I always did first thing—checking, confirming, reassuring myself and whoever was in there that we were still okay.Still okay.I got up, went into the bathroom, and showered.When I came out, the room was still quiet and golden with early light coming through the curtains, and I moved through it feeling almost normal, which was strange enough that I noticed it. I pulled out clothes from the wardrobe—Michael’s wardrobe full of Michael’s choices, all perfectly coordinated and colour-sorted—and got dressed
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