[Dawn]
In the longest road trip I’ve taken since I was a kid, I feel like I’ve barely said half as much as I did back then. The silence between us is almost suffocating, heavy like the humidity of a storm that refuses to break.
After our night of s*x, Aldo is still paranoid and awkward on the road. Even after we talked to his parents and Luca.
It’s like every time we get in the car, he transforms into someone else—someone distant, locked inside his head. I’ve tried everything: talking, not talking, even sharing pieces of myself I’d kept buried for years. But nothing sticks.
The rumble of the engine vibrates through the floor, filling the space between us. Outside, the highway stretches endlessly, a ribbon of gray under a pale, washed-out sky. The monotony of the road mirrors the empt
