Carrie didn't wait for the last song to finish. She slipped out of the party like a ghost escaping a haunted house. No goodbye to Gracie, no nod to Damien, only the hurried sound of her heels against the pavement and the desperate wave at the first cab she saw.
Her breathing was uneven, almost frantic, the kind of breath that hurt because holding it in would have hurt worse. The night air was thick with humidity, neon lights flickering off puddles on the street, and strangers around her laughed as if the world was not collapsing inside her chest. The cab slowed and she yanked the door open, sliding into the back seat without looking back. She could still hear the muffled music from the party, the bass vibrating through her bones like a heartbeat she could not control.
Inside the cab, her
