Page 140 of When the Storm Breaks

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The book about love on my coffee table sits alone, spine crackedto a page I read long before I ever made dinner for Haiyden. Long before our last fight. Our last touch.

I pick it up a few times, try to read, but the words blur together.

It feels like the book is begging me to stop.

To leave it alone.

To let it die.

On the second day, I sit at the window for hours, watching cars roll too fast down the street. Watching neighbors laugh in the yard, their kids tumbling through the grass.

For a long, aching moment, I wonder what it might feel like to be happy.

To have a purpose.

I almost reach for my phone. Almost call my parents. Almost ask them what it’s like—to have a life like that.

On the third day, I name it—the feeling.

Longing.

For him. For love. For the parts of myself that feel lost without him.

For a life I might never have. Might never deserve.

On the fourth day, Madelyn calls. I see her name. I know what it means. I let it ring.

On the fourth day, Hannah calls—and I cling to it like a lifeline.

On the fourth day, when my phone rings, I pray it’s him.

On the fourth day, I realize I need him. Desperately.

On the fourth day, I rename it. The feeling.

Loss.

Chapter 46

Haiyden

I hear the knock at the door, but it feels more like someone pounding on my skull.

Exhaustion weighs on my limbs like lead. I don’t know how long I’ve been here—days, maybe more—but I’ve lost track.

I left a few times. Bathroom, maybe. A drink. Maybe both. I don’t really remember. Doesn’t really matter.

The world is still moving outside these walls, keeping time while I’m stuck in this haze. Like I’m living in a bubble—safe, almost, but not real.

The kind of safety that only exists because I’m refusing to face the truth.

That I’m lying.

Hiding.

Running out of time.

That I’m falling behind—scrambling to catch up in a world that doesn’t wait.

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