SILENCE

EVE

Sleep never came, only the kind of restless half-dreams that kept dragging me back to the same memory. I kept twisting my legs around my sheets, my skin felt too hot, then too cold, and I hated that my chest still ached.

I had always imagined giving myself to someone who loved me, someone older, sure, but gentle, patient, experienced… someone who would make it mean something.

At some point I must have slept off due to exhaustion, because the next thing I knew, the knock on my room door woke me up and I realized that it was already morning, I didn’t see Noah through out yesterday, since everything that happened and Agatha had to leave because she had work to do.

I managed to get up with my body aching all over. When I opened my room door, Noah stood there with his hands buried deep in his pockets, eyes fixed on the floor.

“I shouldn’t have…” His jaw clenched. “I shouldn’t have lost my temper. But, Eve… you disappointed me. You really did.”

I nodded, unable to meet his gaze, and he walked away before I could find the courage to explain.

The days went by and there was no message from Ian, no calls, no sign of him. I told myself that I didn’t care, but everytime I heard the sound of a phone in the house, I hoped it was him calling to explain that he really need care for me and I was never a mistake.

By the third day, it was clear that I never meant anything to him, all the times he told me he liked me and needed time, it was all a lie that I fell for so easily.

Agatha caught me staring too long at her blank screen. “Just check his Snapchat,” she said, tossing her phone onto the couch. “If he’s ghosting you, you deserve to know.”

I shouldn’t have. But curiosity is just a polite word for self-destruction.

One swipe, and there he was laughing with friends, sipping whiskey, the same smile that had made me feel like I was the only one in his world… now aimed at strangers. He looked untouched. Unbothered. Like I’d never even existed.

The background wasn’t the kind of place you just walked into, I spotted leather seats, shadows pooling in the corners. The men with him weren’t the casual, easy type either. Their clothes were sharp, their smiles sharper, and more than one had that silent, dangerous and watchful look that made my skin prickle.

Something in me cracked quietly, invisibly. No tears. No dramatic heartbreak. Just the slow, cold realization that I had been wrong about him. Wrong about us.

I logged out of my Snapchat and handed the phone back to Agatha. Not out of strength, but because I didn’t want the temptation to linger. This was my mistake, and I would own it.

But then I had a thought, what if I texted him? What if he wants to text me but is worried that Ian would hurt me? “Give me your phone.” I told Agatha.

Agatha’s eyes narrowed. “Eve, maybe just… leave it. Don’t text him, don’t call him. I’m not saying you don’t have the right to be angry, but if Noah finds out you’re still talking to Ian, it’s going to get ugly.”

“I’m not trying to start anything with Ian,” I said quickly. “I just want to know if he played me. That’s all. If I’m going to walk away, I want to know I’m walking away from the truth, not some story I told myself.”

She sighed, handing me back her phone anyway. “Just be careful. People like him… they never leave you better than they found you.”

I logged back into my Snapchat and replied to his story.

“Hey..” I waited for a response. Luckily he was online and was typing.

“What’s up? You okay?” He replied.

Maybe he was actually worried about me, if he didn’t care maybe he would have cut me off just like Ian said.

My fingers hovered over the keyboard. Should I tell him I’m fine? Ask why he disappeared? The words tangled in my throat before they ever made it to the screen.

“I’m okay,” I typed finally, adding a shaky smile emoji, as if that could smooth over the cracks. “You?”

His bitmoji came up in chat, typing, stopped, then blinked again.

“Busy. Can’t talk much right now.”

I chewed on my lip, “Busy doing what?” I asked before I could stop myself.

The reply came quicker this time.

“Business. You wouldn’t understand.”

“I can understand if you explain,” I typed.

“It’s fine,” I sent back. “I just wanted to check on you.”

No dots appeared for a long time. Then,

“Eve… don’t overthink. I’ll text you when I can.”

I stared at the screen long after his bitmoji disappeared, my lips curving into a small smile. He would text me. That had to mean something, right?

Agatha tilted her head from where she sat. “So? What did he say?”

“He’s busy,” I replied, trying to sound casual, though the corners of my mouth still wanted to lift. “Said he’ll text as soon as he can.”

Agatha gave me a look I couldn’t quite read, part pity, part warning, but didn’t say anything else.

A few minutes later, she gathered her things and left, saying she had errands to run.

The silence that followed pressed against me, I was alone, I didn’t have my phone anymore, Noah hasn’t said anything concerning it yet and he hadn’t been around all day, not since that morning when he’d stood at my door.

I wandered over to my desk, my eyes landing on the small wall calendar above it. Without my phone, I had been relying on it to keep track of time. I glanced at the date and froze. The red circle around the 10th stared back at me. Today was the 14th.

My period was late. It never was. And in exactly a week, I would be turning nineteen.