✽ Jason ✽
Paul was gone. The block was permanent. Mandy would sit with the empty space and blame herself until she folded into the only stable thing left in her life.
Me.
That part went the way it should. Wesley remained, which meant I remained busy. I sat at the desk in the small study space while the morning light spilled across the floor. The apartment was warm, but outside the windows, the city looked sharp and pale. Saturday mornings in Blackthorne City could be beautiful in a sterile way. The sky was clear, the air cold, and people moved like they were trying not to breathe too deeply. In the kitchen, Mandy hummed along to a song on the radio. It wasn’t the kind of humming that meant joy. It was the kind that meant she was trying to make herself feel normal. I listened anyway, be
