Emily's POV
The body keeps score. That's what they never tell you about survival, that while you're busy rebuilding your life, your body is quietly running its own audit. Quietly, patiently, tallying everything you thought you'd filed away.
I had filed quite a lot.
I changed my number. That was the first thing. Not dramatic, not a ceremony. I just walked into the phone shop on a Friday afternoon and said I'd like a new number, please, and the boy behind the counter said sure, and that was that.
I kept Jenkins. I kept Maria. I kept Nurse Mary, because She had texted once to say he hoped I was doing okay and it had been so unexpected I'd had to sit down. I did not keep Victor's number. There was no Victor's number to keep anymore. I had blocked and deleted, it no longer existed in my phone's memory, which meant it no longer had to exist in mine.
I did not tell anyone I'd changed the number. I just gave the new one to the people I wanted to keep.
That felt like enough.
