LOGINThe road stretched ahead of me in long, empty lines that blurred the more I drove, not because I wasn't paying attention but because my mind refused to stay anchored to anything in front of me when everything inside me was focused somewhere else.On her. On that call.On the way her name had sounded in Nora's voice when she told about it, strained in a way that didn't sit right now matter how many times I tried to convince myself it could have been nothing.I tightened my grip on the steering wheel slightly, exhaling through my nose as I leaned back just a fraction, forcing myself to focus on the road long enough to keep the truck steady.“This is a bad idea.” I muttered under my breath not because I believed it enough to turn around because saying it out loud felt like acknowledging the part of me that still understood consequences.My phone sat in the cup holder beside me, the screen dark, silent in a wha that felt louder than any notification could have been.I glanced at it briefl
The words he said did not leave the room as quickly as the other, when he had said them.They also didn't soften with time or distance. Or even breathe, because they settled into the space between us with a weight that made everything feel still.“I should punish you for that…”I did not move, not because I did not want to, but because every instinct in me understood that if I moved now, it could interpreted into something I could not take back.So instead, I held myself in place and let my breathing remain.Even my pulse climbed in a way that felt dangerously close to death, but I remained still regardless.Ben did not step closer either. That was the first thing that unsettled me, because I expected him to do that.I expected the shift into something physical, something immediately, something I could at least recognize and prepare for in a way that made sense.But instead, he remained where he was, watching me with the same careful attention that made it feel like he was waiting for
“I have to find a way to get to her.*“Yes, you do.” Nora agreed. Her voice was high pitched as she sat listening to me. Her gaze flickered between me and the television. I couldn't tell if she was listening to me or just distracted from her show by the sound of my voice.I stopped speaking for a few seconds. Her eyes remained on the screen for a while, eventually, she turned wide-eyed. “Did something happen?*“No. I just thought you weren't listening.*“I'm listening.”“I see that.”She adjusted.closer, Lily was in her room by now, distracted by a book or something else. The poor child hated that Mia wasn't here, but as the days went by, she started to grasp reality fast enough.“So what do you want to do now?” Nora distracted me from my thoughts as she poked me with the end of the remote.“I don't know.”“Look, I know you love this girl but I don't think you should do whatever's going through your mind.”“What's going through my mind?”She nodded. “I've known you for long, Ethan. I
There was something about the room that refused to let me breathe properly, not because the air itself was lacking but because everything within it felt deliberate.Like it was arranged in a way that had intention and made it impossible to ignore the prulspe behind it.From the position of the bed, to the faint lingering scent in the corners, something medicinal wouldn't stop ooIng from there corners.The more I sat on that bed, the more I noticed how unsettling everything seemed, I tried to understand, but I couldn't. I couldn't understand how anyone could have found comfort in such a place without puking.Ben stood close enough that I could feel the presence of him without needing to look directly, and even though his hand had left mine, the memory of his grip lingered against my skin in a way that made it difficult to forget how easily he could close that distance again, how quickly control could shift back into his hands if I gave him even the smallest reason to take it.“You’re q
The door opened before the guard announced anything, and I didn’t bother turning immediately because there was only one person who came in without knocking twice.Bruce stepped in, shut the door behind him, and took his seat like he owned the room, which in a way, he did.“You look settled,” he said.“I’m adapting,” I replied, finally looking at him. “You didn’t come here to check on my comfort.”“No,” he said. “I didn’t.”I leaned forward slightly. “Then say what you came to say.”He studied me for a second longer than necessary before speaking, and that hesitation told me whatever this was, it wasn’t small.“There’s been a development,” he said.“There’s always a development,” I replied. “Make this one worth my time.”He exhaled. “Mia is missing.”The name didn’t surprise me. The timing did.I leaned back slowly, letting that settle in properly before responding. “Missing,” I repeated, more to process it than to question it.“Yes.”“When?”“A few days ago.”I nodded once, my eyes st
I still didn't understand him.What did he mean by that?“I already told you,” he continued, his thumb brushing lightly against the back of my hand in a gesture that would have felt gentle if it had not been layered with everything else, “you’re different from her.”My gaze flickered briefly toward the girl before I could stop myself, and this time I let it linger just enough to acknowledge her presence without making it obvious that my attention was drawn to her in a way that mattered, because I could feel him watching even in that moment, measuring the length of my glance, the shift in my focus, the meaning behind it.She was still watching me.Always watching me.And there was something in her eyes now that hadn’t been there before, something beyond fear and desperation, something sharper, more urgent, like she had placed all her hope into a single, fragile possibility and that possibility was me.I forced my attention back to him.“In what way?” I asked, my voice steady, controlle
I told myself I was only going to listen. That's how I justified the drive down the hill, the tires of my car pressing cautious tracks into the fresh snow. I told myself I was not choosing sides. How could I? I wasn't even there?In my mind, I was simply going because I needed to hear his side of t
This was all a big mistake. Getting involved with Mia, kissing her, making out, allowing myself fall too deep in whatever I had with her.Gosh! I slapped myself on the forehead so loud, if we had neighbors, they could have heard me but we didn't, so I slapped again. Safe.Mia was asleep inside, sh
The cabin’s air was slow at night but woke slowly as though it was too reluctant to disturb whatever fragile calm hSnow rested thick along the windowsills and the world beyond the glass locked untouched. Quiet underneath that beautiful morning sky. For a few suspenders moments after I had opened
I did not see her leave the cabin.One moment she had been standing at the kitchen counter, steady in a way that impressed me even when I knew she was shaken, and then the next, she was gone.It was the silence that alerted me.Mia did not leave noisily. She did not slam doors or yell with frustrat







