Chapter 5

The sun from the east reflected into Joe’s and Birdy’s room like a direction to travel. The Boston air was cool and quiet, lifting the blinds up and down in a clockwork fashion and wheezing like a child forcing air through closed lips. The environment was calm, and the sounds of leaves falling on the tarred ground were very audible, perhaps because the campus environment was quieter since it was the end of the semester, and most of the students had traveled back home to see their parents.

It was 8:30 in the morning, a typical wakeup time for Birdy, especially since she now had to work from home to manage the trance she’d been having. She rolled over and moved her hand on the bed to feel for Joe.

“Good morning, sweetie,” she said, expecting her hands to rub Joe’s hairy chest, but he was not there.

Birdy sighed, folded her hands into a fist, and rubbed her eyes with the back of her palm, yawning. She heard the sink rushing and the scratchy sound of the shaving stick