's P

he engine off for nearly ten minutes, hands resting on the steering wheel, staring straight ahead like th

sense, not the conversation, not the way

st my sternum like that might settle whatever was ha

quiet normal which was quiet good. Th

nation for what had just happened, and I was n

he basic thin

y perception and apparently auditory anomalies. People heard things under s

dge, involved a man speaking directly into your min

t didn'

hought before it

ow, familiar hum, and something in my chest eased f

that behaved the way they were supposed to

ized I wasn't heading home or anywhe

y on the wheel, calling ev

unctional brain. Act like it. I took the next turn d

structure. Work did not

y and cut that t

*

mething resembling equilibrium. I unlocked the door, st

ightly uneven towers. Papers arranged in neat, categorized piles. My laptop open on the

be. I set my bag down, walked over to the desk, and sat. For a mo

without any logical, reasonable, acceptable transition I could fee

wasn't physical nor tangible, but it was there. Like a pressure at the edge of my awaren

kicked up

N

solutel

is stress," I said again, more firmly this time. "You're projecting. Your brain is adapting, filling in gaps, creating patterns where

ccession but the feeling didn't

real and yet, my gaze shifted almost involuntarily, toward the doo

hard, shutting

ground yourself in-" a knock at the door cut through that. I flinched at the impact which was ridicul

ndra's voice be

led, forcing my s

stepped inside, coffee in h

you just saw a

did

er coffee, still studying

es

nd

tered, which wasn't totally a li

sounded like the least convincin

tir

desk. "You've been running on fumes for weeks, Lila.

asn't going to tell her

ways sa

it's usua

ut that statement and none of them were particularly flatterin

ave

ways ha

mly. "That's beca

th. "Two hours." she

ndr

water, you remember what it's like to exist outside of this office, a

." I answered, almos

s not

ot a no

er eyes. "You'

told seve

r. "Six o'clock. Giacomo's. If you don't show up,

eels ex

nece

r clicked shut behind her and silence settled over the room again

That feeling which was stronger and clo

t intense, like something tightening and releasing all at

is t

clear distinct voice low bu

alization this time. No immediate explanation to reach for. Because I knew with a cla

y voice sounded smal

up a step like I could physically distance mysel

to

fragile second, I thought maybe I

I grabbed the edge of my desk to steady myself, my pulse

ed hard. "I am not do

e because now I didn't know if it ha

hing unevenly, gripping the desk like

very deliberately, I

creen; I made research on auditory hallucinations, stress causes, hearing voices under emotional distress, can trauma cause internal voic

counted for the specificity, the timing, the way it didn't feel like my own

st tig

just hadn't found it yet. That was all this was. That was all this had t

s had shifted in while I wasn't looking. Like something had e

ine into alignment, forcing m

are not. This is temporary. This is

from outside. It came from somewher

first time since this morning

*

d closed. Life continued, steady and predictable. Inside my office, nothing felt predict