102. Doesn't Fix Anything...

Ava didn’t check the time. She didn’t need to.

The view outside her windshield was a blur, with streaks of amber and red from traffic lights mixing together on the wet road caused by the steady rain.

Her wipers moved in a hypnotic rhythm, but she barely noticed them.

She drove without purpose, feeling detached, as the city blurred into dull shapes around her. Her hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, making her knuckles turn white. Every turn and every stop came automatically, as if she were on autopilot.

But inside her mind, it was chaos.

The gunshot still rang like an alarm bell, repeating in a merciless loop. A sound that had ended a life and split her own open.

It hadn’t been loud at the time. In fact, it had been terrifyingly soft. Almost delicate. Like the world had taken a breath and held it just long enough to witness what she’d done.

Was it the right decision?

Was she right to kill him, even when he begged?

Should she have shown mercy?

The questions chased her, biting a