Chapter One: 12:44 A.M.

A sheet of white paper beside it read: CASH NOT ACCEPTED. My phone showed 1:44 a.m. Perhaps exhaustion had impaired my judgment. Perhaps the word wellness had found the weakest place in me. I opened the door. Inside, I smelled sun-warmed bedding instead of disinfectant. Dark blue curtains lined a corridor, and water dripped somewhere far away. A woman in a gray-white uniform approached. She looked about forty, her hair perfectly bound. Her badge read BAI ZHI. “Good evening, Dr. Su.” I stopped. “Do you know me?” “Everyone arrives here introduced by their fatigue.” She smiled. “We don't ask names. We ask whether you are willing to rest.” “What is this? A sleep clinic?”