The cost of watching
Maya's POV The argument started around 6 am They sat on the steps behind the library, where the floodlights didn't reach and the whispers couldn't follow. Adrian's hands were shaking, his voice low and ragged, the architecture of his composure finally cracking under the weight of Elena's presence in Maya's room. "I need to fix this," he said. Not asking. Declaring. "I need to help her. Transfer her somewhere else. Pay for treatment. Find her an apartment, a therapist, a life outside—" "Outside what?" Maya cut in. "Outside my room? Outside my story? Outside the consequences you don't want to face?" Adrian stared at her. The moon caught the exhaustion in his eyes, the guilt that had calcified over three years and was now dissolving into something desperate and dangerous. Adrian stared
- Writer
