JAMES
“Don’t play with me now,” I said flatly as I stepped back into my room.
No sign of Stella.
I stood there for a full second, staring at the indentation her body had left behind. The window was closed. The door hadn’t opened.
Yet she wasn’t here.
I inhaled slowly. She was still in the house, I could feel that invisible thread again. That pulse under my skin that only reacts when she's around me. I sat quietly on my table and shut my eyes.
The sound of splashing water hit my eardrums.
I moved before the thought even fully formed.The bathroom door was slightly ajar.
And when I pushed it open, the bathtub was full. Water nearly touched the rim.
And inside it…Stella.
Unmoving. Her hair floating around her face like ink in water. Lips pale. Eyes closed.
For a second, the world n
