Sophia
I closed the shop early that evening, unable to face another customer curiously glancing my way, another whispered conversation I could half hear from across the room. Emma offered to stay, but I sent her home too, needing the silence more than the company for once.
Alone in my apartment that night, I found myself scrolling through the article again, then following the trail of links Claire Whitman's story had generated, unable to stop myself from digging deeper despite every warning instinct telling me to simply put the phone down and give myself the space I'd asked Noah for that afternoon.
That was how I found the photo.
It appeared in a follow up piece from a different outlet, one that had picked up the story and expanded on it with additional details, quotes, and images pull
