Half-asleep that afternoon, Mabel murmured from her chair, “Someone…following…seek safety.” Lauren turned, but Mabel’s eyes stayed closed, breath even. The words echoed oddly in the quiet room, stirring something Lauren couldn’t place, like a half-remembered dream of her own.
By breakfast the next day, Mabel laughed it off. “Must’ve been talking in my sleep, dear. Silly dreams about the weirdest things. So real in the moment. Forget I said it.” She buttered her toast with gusto, eyes clear again. Lauren nodded, though the murmur lingered like frost on the windowpane.