Chapter 15 – The Breathing in the Deep
The first few days were the worst.
Punishment: Room-bound. No books beyond two. No leaving past meals. No talking unless addressed. No games.
Just Callen.
And four walls.
Over the course of thirty minutes, he changed position over twenty times. He made figurines from old pages. He used a rolled-up sock as a makeshift ball and tried to invent a new indoor sport. He skimmed the same paragraph in a book eight times. He even hung upside-down on his bed frame. That lasted until the fall.
He hit his head.
Hard.
And then groaned into his pillow.
It was the most bored he'd ever been.
---
Midweek, two guards visited the orphanage.
He saw them from the upstairs window. Leather tunics. Iron badges. The type that looked more like thugs with permission.
He knew exactly why they were there.
Rita.
