The morning sun was peaking just past the horizon. The skies were glowing orange, and from within the trees I could see Avni's silhouette sat on the front porch, watching the same sunrise as I was. As I sat against a tree, cloaked from Avni's vision by the forests' shadows, I wondered what she was thinking about that made her breath so unsteady as she tried to hold back the sobs.
I'll go back later today, I promised myself. But how could I be so sure? For three days straight I'd been saying the same thing to myself over and over, as if somehow it would make the guilt disappear. For I had spent one of the three nights I'd been away from Avni, with Erica. Nothing serious; I hadn't... slept with Erica. Not in that way. We settled underneath the big willow tree where I'd met her earlier that
