Sleep did not come easily after the competition.
I lay on the thin hostel mattress with the taste of blood still faint in my mouth and the echo of Damian’s voice circling the room like a live wire. *When you decide, you know where to find me.* The words had followed me all the way back from the courtyard, through the locked door, into the dark. Every time I closed my eyes I saw the exact set of his shoulders as he walked away, snow gathering on his jacket until the shape of him blurred and disappeared.
I had been given the chance to speak.
I had said nothing.
The silence felt heavier than any of the four days he had stayed away.
Morning arrived gray and wet. I dressed without looking in the mirror, pulled the hoodie tight around my throat, and left the hostel while the corridors were
