POV: Violet
The city always felt different after a storm — softer somehow, like the rain had stripped away the noise and left only truth.
That morning, as I stepped out of my apartment and into the washed streets, the world smelled of petrichor and new beginnings. My coat clung to my shoulders, my hair still damp from the shower, but I didn’t care. For the first time in what felt like forever, my chest didn’t feel heavy.
Ryan was alive.
My mother was stable.
And I was… here.
Still breathing. Still standing.
It should’ve been enough, but peace had never sat easily with me. Not after everything we’d been through.
When I reached the hospital, the day had just begun. The front doors were boarded up from the damage last night, but the staff moved around with quiet efficiency. Everyone w
