The music pulsed through my body as I moved to the beat, but my mind was elsewhere. It wasn’t just the rhythm carrying me; it was the storm inside me. My mom’s harsh words replayed over and over, and Ezekiel’s face kept coming to my thoughts.
I wished I could scream it all out—tell my mother everything about what her boyfriend and I had done. Watch her flawless composure crack.
But I couldn’t.
I smiled while thinking.
I opened my eyes and blinked, trying to ground myself, but something was wrong. The room wasn’t steady anymore—it was tilting. No, not just the room. Everyone around me seemed to sway, their movements exaggerated, surreal.
No. It was me. I was tilting.
I stumbled slightly, my legs feeling heavy, and my head spun as the edges of my vision blurred. My abdomen clenched sud
