The girl read through all the information.
I didn't go over to look. I just leaned to one side and watched her sit there, motionless, for a long time.
The dream fast-forwarded. The sky outside the window kept changing, like scenes in a documentary, but the girl didn't move at all. That was how she spent most of her time.
Her phone rang. One of her friends was calling again. When the call went unanswered and ended automatically, another text came in. Their persistence was worse than a debt collection company's. At least the latter used software to bombard people with calls, and it was just a job.
The girl picked up her phone and looked at it again and again, until its battery died once more.
She stared at the black screen. Instead of charging her phone, she gazed out at the sky.
Her parents finally came home.
Soon, screams and hushed voices followed.
The torn talisman and the bedroom door left open had clearly made the couple uneasy.
The sound of a door closing came, followed by hurried footsteps going downstairs.
The girl gave a bitter smile and walked out of her room.
The note that had been stuck to the door had been taken down, crumpled into a ball, and thrown on the floor.
I'd vaguely heard the couple mention it as they came in. Their voices had been full of sighs and regret. Maybe the sight inside the house had frightened them; they hadn't noticed the two notes and had thrown them away.
But the girl didn't see it that way.
Her sense of having been abandoned by the world grew stronger. She bent down, picked up the two notes, unfolded them, and smoothed them flat.
The notes suddenly passed right through her hands and drifted