That afternoon, I found a small community center by accident while walking just to keep from freezing outside. The doors were open, and inside, people were folding clothes, talking quietly, moving with a kind of calm I didn’t recognize from my own life.
A woman at the front desk noticed me standing too long and asked if I needed help. I almost said no out of habit. Instead, I heard myself admit I had nowhere to stay for the night.
She didn’t react with shock. She just nodded, like she had heard it before from people who didn’t look any different from me.
As she led me toward a room with a cot and a locked door, my phone buzzed again in my pocket—but this time, I didn’t reach for it
