By the time I reached her house, my legs ached.
Not from the distance, but from everything I had carried with me to get there.
The night air had turned colder, sharper, biting against my skin, but I barely noticed it. My mind was too loud, too full, replaying everything over and over again until it felt like I might lose myself in it.
Daniel’s voice.
Amelia’s laugh.
The words I couldn’t unhear.
I forced it all down as I stood in front of the house.
Nothing had changed.
The same soft light glowed through the windows, warm against the darkness outside. The same quiet stillness wrapped around the place like it always had. It looked exactly how I remembered it.
Safe.
The word settled in my chest, unfamiliar and fragile.
For the first time since I had walked out of that house, I hesi
