For the first time in longer than Raven could remember, she awoke from her nap with her father feeling rested. No nightmares. No sudden awakening into a panic attack. No dreams where her father was unable to see or hear her—where she felt like a ghost in her own home. She had lost herself in the fragile peace of that moment, but as she glanced out the window, the orange halide glow of the streetlights bleeding through broken blinds brought her back to reality.
“Shit, I shouldn’t have slept,” she hissed under her breath, berating herself as she noticed the time. “I’m going to be late.”
She stood, whispering to her still-slumbering father. “I’ll be back soon. I have to meet Dr. Vance. I’ll call the insurance company when I get home, I promise.” Her voice faltered at the thought of dealing with them again, but she pushed it aside.
Grabbing her black hooded puffer jacket from the back of her desk chair, she hurried out the door, letting it click shut softly behind her.
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