Maria:
By the time I got home yesterday, I didn’t have the patience to sit with anything.
Everything felt tangled in a way I couldn’t sort out quickly, and I knew if I tried, I would just make it worse. So I didn’t try.
I dropped my bag by the door, kicked off my shoes somewhere along the way, and went straight to my room without turning on the lights. My phone buzzed once. Then again. I saw Daniel’s name flash across the screen and turned it face down before it could light up again. The screen glowed faintly against the wood.
I lay there fully dressed, staring at nothing in particular, letting the day replay in pieces I didn’t ask for. His voice. The way he said it. The way I said no.
At some point, the thoughts stopped forming properly. I slipped into sleep without deciding to.
_
