Living in Shadows

It was late in the night, almost morning, when Lily finally stirred from a fitful sleep. Her eyes were still swollen from her earlier bout of crying, and a dull ache settled in her chest as she blinked against the dim light filtering through the curtains. She instinctively reached for her phone to check the time, but her hand found only empty sheets. Her phone was missing—left behind where her mother had thrown it, in the chaos of the evening. The thought of searching for it felt like a monumental task; she couldn't muster the energy to care about it right now.