June's POV
The door slammed shut.
I heard it—felt it more than anything—vibrating through my bones like an aftershock. Something cold and distant inside me stirred, like a ripple beneath ice. I wanted to sit up. I wanted to scream. I wanted to ask Justin what he saw—what he thought when he looked at me now.
But my mouth wouldn't work. My tongue sat like a swollen thing in my mouth, foreign, heavy. My limbs were slack, trembling from somewhere deep in the marrow. My eyes darted, unfocused, unable to anchor to anything.
I felt the seatbelt tighten across my chest as the car turned on. The world outside blurred into streaks of shadow and dying light. I curled deeper into the seat, a child again. No. Not a child. Not really. Not anymore.
"She's gone."
That voice again.
Feminine. Familiar.
It lived in the back of my mind, trailing me through sleep, crawling out of corners in mirrors, humming lullabies I didn't know I knew.
"No one ever came for you."
It was true, wasn't it?
