Relentless.
From now on, you’ll lie in the dark by yourself, night after night, remembering exactly what you’ll never get.
My fingers tightened slightly against the wall.
You’re not worthy of sleeping in my bed anymore.”
My vision blurred at the edges.
I blinked.
Refusing to let it spill over.
Not here. Not in this hallway.
Not where he could somehow still be watching.
My breath caught.
I didn’t realize I had stopped walking until I forced myself forward again, dragging my body toward the door at the end of the hallway.
Toward escape.
Toward somewhere that wasn’t him.
When I finally reached my door, my hand trembled as it found the handle. I turned it slowly, the mechanism clicking softly under my grip, and pushed the door open.
The room inside was dark.
I stepped inside.
And the moment the door clicked shut behind me—
Something in me broke.
Quietly.
Like something that had been stretched too thin for too long finally giving in to the pressure it had been holding.
My body didn’t fight it.
Didn’t try to hold itself together.
My legs gave out before I even reached the bed, and I stumbled the last step, collapsing forward onto the mattress.
Face-first.
The impact wasn’t hard.
But it was enough.
I didn’t move for a second.
Just lay there.
Still.
Then slowly—like I couldn’t stop myself—I pulled the pillow toward me and buried my face into it, gripping it tightly as though it could keep everything inside from spilling out.
