Chapter 27

• JESSIE
• The fluorescent lights of the grocery store hummed, a monotonous drone that usually faded into the background, but today, it seemed to amplify the chaos around me. Saturday morning, the battleground of weekend shoppers, was in full swing. Carts collided, children wailed, and the air buzzed with a frenetic energy that should have been comforting, a distraction. But it wasn’t. My mind, usually a fortress of focus, was a battlefield of its own.
• I pushed my cart, its wheels squeaking a discordant tune, down the aisle, my eyes scanning the shelves. Milk, eggs, pasta, coffee—the familiar list a lifeline in this sea of humanity. I needed the routine, the mundane tasks, to keep the ghosts at bay.