Held Light, Held Close
Paul was missing, likely up to trouble or mischief—Celeste had once caught him sweet-talking a vending machine.
Celeste slid a binder into her bag, squared the corners, checked the zipper twice, then once more for luck. The binder was blue, the kind with a spine that creaked when bent, and inside the plastic sleeve was a fading sticker of a cartoon bat with one wing half-peeled. The candle on the kitchenette counter sat cold and spent, wick bent like a tired question mark, the scent of last week’s vanilla-lavender clinging to the air in stubborn defiance. She ran her finger along the countertop, collecting a fine dusting of sugar from someone’s abandoned donut, and let the sweetness dissolve
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