20. VIOLET SWAN

ITALY

*꘎♡━━━━━━━♡꘎*

The day was surprisingly beautiful — warm, with that touristy air that smelled like freshly baked sweets and blooming flowers, mixed with the distant sound of laughter. Italy felt like it had been pulled straight out of a painting. Most people walked in the same direction toward the town center. I still didn’t know where to go. I checked my bag again for my phone. And again. I dug through tissues, loose coins, anything. But I couldn’t find it. Not even a trace of that cursed thing.

“Damn it,” I muttered under my breath, frustrated as I sat down on a stone bench.

“If I don’t have my phone, I’ll be completely lost here…”

“Genius, Violet. You’re so damn clueless you’ve even lost the one thing you need to survive in another country. Where the hell did you leave it?” I scolded myself out loud.

Now I was talking to myself, which wasn’t helping. The worst part? I couldn’t stop doing it. Peopl