She flipped the switch in the bathroom, leaving the door open a few inches, around 3am.

She’d never adjusted to sleeping alone, and the unfamiliar surroundings just exaggerated her uneasiness.

She opened her cell phone and used the bright display to illuminate the corners of the wall near her bed, scanning for telltale signs of spiders.

Satisfied that nothing would be crawling into bed with her, she slipped under the covers, exhausted.

She refused to feel silly about her nighttime ritual any longer.

She was on her own now. There was no one left to laugh at her childish fears.