The first thing I notice is the sunlight.
Soft morning light spills across the floorboards, pale gold and gentle, warming the edge of the blankets. It reaches my skin slowly, inch by inch, like the world is tiptoeing back into existence. For a moment, I do not move. I do not speak. I just breathe and let the quiet settle around me.
The second thing I notice is Nathan.
He is asleep on my chest, one arm locked around my waist, the other under my ribs, holding me like he anchored himself here sometime during the night and refused to let go. His breath is warm against my collarbone. His hair is smashed to one side in the most ridiculous, adorable way. He looks softer like this. Calmer. Almost peaceful.
Younger.
Almost like the world outside the mines never touched him. I stroke a strand o
