When the alarm rang, her first conscious thought was one of dread.  

She lay still, not because of danger, but because she knew the feeling.  Not a fear of the day. Not a fear of the dark.  Just something.  

She moved gently, noticing the silence. No birds. No wind. No traffic.  The chair sat under the doorknob again in the hallway, facing the wrong way. 

 She didn’t touch it.  Instead, she opened her notebook.  Wrote down the time. The angle of light. Her pulse.  Then underlined: 

“Today I won’t panic. I will observe.” And just like that, the dread loosened.