Chapter 69. Mastery

Alison’s POV

The room was quiet, except for the gentle hum of the wind outside. Quiet, but far from calm.

I sat cross-legged on the floor, my hands gripping the edges of a woven mat as if holding on to it would somehow anchor me. Simone sat across from me, serene and unbothered, as though my chaos didn’t rattle her in the slightest. Her cane rested beside her, and her unseeing eyes stared past me into the void.

“Close your eyes, Ally,” she said, her voice low and steady. “You need to focus on the silence within.”

Silence within? It was almost laughable. How could I find silence when a thousand voices still clawed at my sanity? One voice was angry, another mournful, and then there was the constant hum of mundane thoughts that belonged to people I couldn’t even see.

“I can’t do this,” I muttered, opening my eyes. My fingers tightened around the mat, and frustration built in my chest like a pressure cooker. “It’s too much. I can’t focus on anything