Chapter 271
The morning light was pale when I woke.
For a moment, I forgot where I was. The attic ceiling loomed above me, familiar and foreign at once. Dust motes danced in the slanted sunbeams. Somewhere outside, a bird sang.
Then I remembered.
The fitting. Four o'clock. Father is driving me.
The thought settled in my chest, warm and unfamiliar. Like a guest who had overstayed their welcome but wasn't asked to leave.
I climbed out of bed and dressed slowly. The blue dress. The white scarf. The same clothes I had worn yesterday. They felt different now. Lighter.
I went by bus.
The morning air was cool against my face as I stepped off at the hospital stop. The building loomed before me, gray and indifferent. The same entrance. The same automatic doors. The same fluorescent lights humming behind the glass.
But today, something felt different.
Heavier.
