Julia
Van's hold of me continued as he awaited my response. We were two people in the eye of a hurricane with his answer swirling around us with category-five intensity, buzzing in my ears and muting the world beyond our shattered globe. The fire in the hearth a room away still snapped and crackled, the large clock on the wall still ticked, and yet all I heard was his response 'my wife' on repeat, the chorus within the melody of incessant buzzing.
I closed my eyes, lowering my chin and trying to make sense of what he'd said.
The buzz wasn't from Van's answer.
I heard it within me, the byproduct of my increased circulation racing through my veins. I was underwater and struggling to get to the surface, to make sense of what didn't make sense.
Staring up at the man still holding me,
