110- Ashy morning

Arielle.

I wake up to silence.

The kind that hums at the edges of the walls and the kind that feels too heavy to breathe in. The sheets beside me are cold and twisted and the scent on the pillow still smells faintly of him that always clings to him like it’s a part of his soul.

I blink, my lashes sticking together as the memory from last night slips in like a whisper I can’t shut out.

The way he said my name like it broke something inside him. I sit up slowly, the sheet falling to my lap and that’s when I feel the dull ache in my body, a soreness that reminds me of everything we did and everything I shouldn’t have let happen.

My throat feels dry. My heart won’t calm down.

I pull my knees up and press my face to them because the silence feels too big amd I don’t know what to do with myself. My fingers tremble as I run them through my hair trying to convince myself that it meant nothing.

That it was just a moment and a mistake. But my body doesn’t believe it. The warmth that still