Page 187 of When the Storm Breaks
“Please don’t leave town yet.”
“I won’t.”
I don’t know why I say it. Maybe to ease the desperation in his voice. Maybe because it’s the only thing I can give him.
But I say it anyway.
My legs move, but my mind doesn’t.
Everything inside me is tangled. Spinning.
I don’t know where I’m going. I don’t know what comes next.
All I know is I can’t stay. Not with him.
Not like this.
Chapter 59
Haiyden
The apartment feels quieter lately. Like all the life’s been drained from it. Too still. Colder, somehow.
I sit on the couch, staring at the dark TV screen. I haven’t turned it on in days. Haven’t done much of anything.
The silence that used to feel peaceful now wraps around me like a noose.
Margot stretches out beside me, resting her head gently on my thigh. Maybe she can sense it—the loss. That I’m falling again. And this time, there might not be a way back.
I scratch behind her ears, but it doesn’t help anymore.
She hasn’t left my side since Calla walked away.
It’s been days.
She’s really gone this time. And I know it’s permanent.
My phone sits face-up on the table. I keep staring at it, waiting for the screen to light up. But it never does.
No missed calls. No texts. Nothing.
She’s out there. Moving on. Without me.
I should be happy for her. Proud, even. I should want her to have something else. Something more than this.
But all I can think about is what it would feel like to hold her again.
To wake up with her beside me.
To hear her humming to herself, lost in thought.
Tohaveher—solid and warm and real.
I stand and move to the window, staring out at the streetlight flickering against the pavement. But all I see is my own reflection. A version of me I barely recognize.
My knuckles are still sore—bruised and split from when the grief got too loud and I tried to beat it quiet.
I thought the pain might help.
