The quiet that followed felt different.
Not empty.
Not tense.
Just… still.
Like everything had reached a point where it couldn’t stretch any further.
I sat in the same place for a long time after Max left, my thoughts running in circles that didn’t quite land anywhere.
For the first time since this started, there were no messages. No interruptions. No reminders that something was closing in.
Just silence.
And time.
Too much of it.
I didn’t try to distract myself.
I didn’t move around the room.
I didn’t check my phone every few seconds like I had been before.
I just… sat with it.
With everything that had happened.
With everything that had changed.
Because this was the part I couldn’t avoid anymore.
The after.
If he came back.
If this really ended.
What did that mean for
