The office was too bright.
The sun shone brightly as they stabbed into Nadia's skull every time she tried to focus.
She sat hunched at her glass desk, legs bouncing so hard her desk trembled.
Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!
The rhythm was involuntary, a frantic Morse code her body kept sending.
I'm still here, I'm still here, I'm still here…
It was insanity for Nadia.
She was slowly losing pieces of herself.
She opened her phone.
Chirper loaded in painful slow motion.
Someone's engagement shoot in Santorini.
Someone else's dog wearing reindeer antlers.
Christmas was a few days away and the whole internet was glowing.
She scrolled faster and panted as she thumb flicked like it could outrun her own thoughts.
"Hey, Nadia!"
"Huh—!?"
"Morning, gorgeous! You okay? You look… pale."
She glanced up.
Priya from accounting, holding two coffees with a very worried look on her face.
Nadia summoned the smile she'd been practicing in the elevator mirror.
