A floorboard creaked in the hallway outside my bedroom door, then went quiet again.

I didn’t move from the chair until the clock on the nightstand read six twenty.

Cold gray morning light was starting to show around the edges of the window shade.

I got up and walked into the narrow bathroom attached to the room, closing the door behind me without locking it.

I looked into the small mirror above the pedestal sink.

The mark on my left cheekbone had spread overnight into a thick purple shape the size of a plum, dark against my pale skin.