CHLOE
I told myself the message didn’t matter. I promised myself not to open it againg…But my hands betrayed me before my mind could think straight.
I sat rigid on the edge of the sofa, staring down at the glowing screen in my trembling palm. Five simple words from an unknown area code…He is asking about you…and suddenly my chest compressed, as if all the oxygen had been swept out of the room.
My thumb drifted over the digits. I tried to study the sender, frantically searching for a trace of logic, trying to figure out if this anonymous text was real or just a cruel, petty prank from someone back home. I scuffled with the desperate urge to dive headfirst back into the emotional chaos I had worked so hard, so painfully, to escape.
And to be sincere…Part of me…a quiet, desperate, humilia
