Alessia didn't realize how exhausted she was until she got home.
The moment the apartment door closed behind her, something inside her seemed to loosen. Not enough to disappear entirely, but enough that she finally felt the weight she'd been carrying all day. Her shoulders ached. Her head hurt.
Even her feet were protesting after spending hours walking, arguing, pacing and trying not to lose her patience with people who seemed determined to make decisions on her behalf. She dropped her keys onto the kitchen counter and kicked off her shoes without bothering to place them neatly where they belonged. One landed near the couch. The other disappeared somewhere behind a chair. Normally that would have annoyed her. Tonight she couldn't bring herself to care.
She simply stood there in the midd
