I stood in the narrow hallway for a long minute, listening to their footsteps fade down the wooden stairs.

The silence of the apartment felt different now, no longer a shield but a thin layer of glass.

The phone on my nightstand rang at twelve minutes past midnight.

The screen lit up with my mother’s home number, the green light throwing pale squares across the bedroom ceiling.

I picked up the receiver on the third ring, my thumb hovering over the button before I pressed it.

“Mara?” Evelyn’s voice was a breathless, pleading whisper.