VIKTOR
I didn’t move. I couldn’t.
The door had clicked shut behind Bonnie with the force of a slamming finality. Madeleine’s sobs still echoed in my ears, despite the silence that settled in the room around me. I stared at the closed door like it was going to open again, like maybe, just maybe, she’d come back in and tell me everything was going to be okay. But it never happened. The minutes dragged by, slow and agonizing, and I remained rooted to the spot, as if I were some sort of statue, frozen by the weight of my own regrets.
I sat there on the edge of the couch, my head in my hands. The silence pressed down on me like a thousand pounds, every moment more suffocating than the last. It wasn’t the kind of silence you could ignore. It was the kind that wrapped around you and squeezed
