Woke before waking. Something had already taken position. Check.

No breath. Only the pressure of recognition but not mine. 6th hour outside.

The veil did not fall cleanly and there was static in the marrow.

South was wrong. The cot had turned, but the floor remained mostly still.

I counted three limbs and a mirror. There was a fourth, but it was under the bedframe, humming in script.

Teeth behind the socket. Not mine.

A sound like dry paper folding itself into a name I forgot.

The light outside shifted, but the shadows inside didn’t notice.

I spoke nothing. Still, something answered from the corner with my breath.