You existed.
I couldn't shake those words from my mind. No matter how many times I turned them over, dissected them, tried to make sense of them, they refused to fit into any logic that didn’t make me feel sick.
How had my mere existence been enough to send Noelle into such a spiral? What was it about me that justified every cruel, calculated thing she had done? What had I ever done to deserve it?
I groaned, rolling onto my side, then my back, then my side again—searching for sleep that refused to come. My sheets were a tangled mess, much like the thoughts swarming in my mind, suffocating, relentless.
Just as I finally felt exhaustion begin to pull me under, a cruel beam of sunlight slashed across my face.
I threw an arm over my eyes and let out a bitter laugh.
Of course.
"Rise and
