Chapter 213

• The morning came quietly, without any announcement or demand, only the slow light that began to stretch across the walls of my room. I opened my eyes to the sound of leaves brushing against the windowpane, stirred by a gentle wind that seemed less like weather and more like invitation. For the first time in many days, I felt no urgency to rise quickly, and yet I knew I could not stay in bed forever.
• The thought of the river had been with me for weeks, like an unfinished sentence that lingered in the back of my mind. I remembered how I had once walked there in a state of grief, when the world felt broken in ways I could not name. That walk had been heavy with silence and sorrow, but now the thought of returning seemed almost tender, as if the place could hold a new meaning for me.
• I moved through the house slowly, letting my hands brush against familiar objects as though they might remind me of who I had been when I first arrived here. A scarf left on the arm of a chair, the soft indentation in the couch where Julian and I had sat together, the faint fragrance of coffee grounds from the kitchen. Each detail spoke to me like a gentle reminder that life was still layered with memory, even when I no longer tried to chase it.