ROMAN
I couldn’t sit still.
I had tried—at first. I tried to lie back on the bed and stare at the ceiling like I usually did when my thoughts got too loud, like somehow doing nothing would force everything to settle on its own. It didn’t work.
It only made it worse.
So I got up.
And then I sat again.
And then I stood.
And now I was pacing.
Back and forth, across the same stretch of space, like if I walked it enough times, something in my head would finally make sense.
It didn’t.
It just kept circling.
The dream. Her voice... No—the voice.
That chant.
The way it had sounded at first—strange, distant, like something I wasn’t meant to hear, let alone understand. And yet…
I did.
That was the part that was driving me insane.
I stopped mid-step, dragging a hand down my face as I
