I don’t know how long I stayed there.
Held.
The silence settled over me like ash. My throat still burned from crying, but the tears were gone. And yet, it still didn’t hurt any less.
I lifted my head from Hasmik’s shoulder. I couldn’t look her in the eye. My chin hung low, staring at the dirt-streaked ground beneath me.
It wasn’t shame. I wasn’t embarrassed.
It was…
Exhaustion.
Exhaustion from trying.
From loving.
From hoping.
Coming to terms with the fact that the thing I wanted, the woman I needed, was gone before she’d ever truly been mine… it broke something I wasn’t sure would ever grow back.
“Are you okay?” Hasmik was the first to break the quiet.
I didn’t answer.
Because what the hell was I supposed to say?
That I felt hollow? That I couldn’t imagine waking up tomorrow
