Anna was lying in bed with the duvet pulled up over her head. A thing not so unusual in itself, except for the fact it was half-past seven on a Thursday evening, and she was fully dressed, bar her shoes. Somewhere in the distance, her doorbell was ringing. She was doing her best to ignore it.
She’d climbed into bed about half an hour ago, and she had no intention of getting out again that evening. Maybe not ever. It was nice in her cocoon. White. Calm. The world had been too bright today, too noisy. Just too flipping cheerful. But this was a lovely solution. She should have come up with it sooner.
The letterbox clattered. ‘Anna?’
Anna stared hard at the cotton duvet cover and began to count the individual threads above her nose. Maybe she should consider some sort of soundproofing?
The voice came again, louder. ‘Hey, there! I’m here. Open the door!’
Deep breathing… That was supposed to be good for keeping calm, wasn’t it? Anna decided to try it; she wanted so badly to hang on to this velvety, white numbness. The only problem was that it had been a very long time since Anna had been able to take a deep breath. Two years, nine months and eight days, to be exact.
Had it truly been that long? It still felt like yesterday. She rolled over onto her side and curled into a ball, squeezing her eyes shut…
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