Brett: Valerie answer me right now
Mom: Valerie what have you done call me immediately
Dad: Delete that email this instant before you embarrass yourself further
Tiffany: you psycho jealous freak
Tiffany: you sold the house????
Unknown number after unknown number.
Voicemail icons multiplied. Social media mentions surged. Emails poured in from relatives who always seemed most concerned with tone when the truth made them uncomfortable. My pulse stayed strangely steady. The chaos no longer felt like danger. It felt like distance proving itself.
I opened none of it.
I removed the U.S. SIM card from my phone, carried it into the kitchenette, dropped it into a mug of tea I had let go cold, and watched it sink.
The first full night in London I slept twelve hours.
When I woke, dawn was leaking around the curtains and my body felt as if it had surfaced from underwater. For two full minutes I did not remember anything. Then it all returned, but less like a blade and more like weather. Still dangerous. Not always immediate.
Work began four days later.