Chapter 16 A Visitor From the Past

I stared into the mirror, blinking rapidly as if it would change the reflection before me. But it didn’t.

The woman in the mirror was a stranger. Her once-bright eyes were sunken, rimmed with dark circles, and swollen from the tears that had been her only companion for… I didn’t even know how long. Weeks? Months? Time had lost its meaning.

All I knew was the four walls of this room, the endless dark, and the ache that wrapped around my heart like a vice.

I lifted a hand to my face, my fingers trembling as they traced the outline of my cheek. My skin was pale, almost sickly, and my lips were cracked and dry. I flinched at my own touch, as if the woman in the mirror wasn’t really me, but some hollow, broken version of myself.

“This can’t be me,” I whispered, my voice barely audible, even to myself. But the woman in the mirror didn’t disappear, didn’t change. She just stared back at me with the same empty eyes.

As I stared at myself, the thought of Tommy surged through me. I m