Taylor burst into his mansion, panting heavily, his shirt clinging to his damp skin as though it carried the weight of his boiling rage.
He slammed the entrance door behind him, its echo reverberating through the grand but lifeless home.
The clock on the wall ticked a deafening 8:06 PM, but time felt irrelevant to the storm raging within him.
He was breathing in sharp gasps, as if he had been running for hours, though the chase he had endured had far more to do with his mind than his body.
Upstairs, his mother, stirred from her evening nap. She heard the commotion, threw on her robe, and padded downstairs, her face lined with concern.
The dim light in the hall led her into Taylor's room; she came to a stop at his door, her heart bucking at the sound of breaking glass.
She was jus
