She works closing shifts, sleeps in fragments, and walks home through a city that never feels fully empty. Bills have been piling up, and her mind keeps her awake at night, forcing her to sell her things on eBay just to keep up with the rising cost of living. She used to be so bright, but now she hardly sees daylight. Life is already wearing thin-yet things only seem to get worse for Lin Hawthorne when she begins to notice a presence in her routine. Sometimes it's a cat, sometimes a neighbor-sometimes its nothing but the engulfing social fear. All she has are her online friends, and with isolation pressing in, she reaches out to the few she thinks she can trust. ______________ Content/Trigger Warning: This story contains themes of depression, sexual assault, anxiety, and a progressively unsettling first-person narrative. Reader discretion is advised. This is my first novel, this story is written by me. All references to people or places are entirely coincidental. Spelling and grammar will be corrected as part of ongoing iterative work. This novel is being revised as I go and will be published on Amazon and reworked after Wattpad completion. Thank you for stopping by! Projected Release Schedule: Weekly minimum. Cover design by Claire Elaine, assisted with Photopea & AI illustration. All Rights Reserved