Afterlife Riot
My fiancé, Lucas Vance, had an absolute rule: he never, under any circumstances, answered a phone call after 9:00 p.m.
Even during the most passionate days of our relationship, he would hang up without hesitation the second the clock struck nine.
One night, I came home late and realized a stranger was tailing me in the dark. Panic-stricken, I called Lucas, only to be met with a voice dripping with utter annoyance.
"Can you learn to respect my schedule for once? I'm hanging up."
That night, I sat alone in the cold lights of the police station, filling out a police report by myself. Yet, back then, I convinced myself I didn't even have the right to blame him.
But tonight, while using his laptop, I accidentally stumbled across his synced call logs. There, staring back at me, was a continuous record spanning from 9:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. the following morning.
12 hours straight. Every night. For five long years.
I knew the number perfectly. It belonged to his mother's star student and his trusted teaching assistant.
For a moment, my spine felt stiff. I sat frozen in front of the screen until my legs went numb. Then, without a word, I shut the laptop and canceled our upcoming appointment to register our marriage.
That late-night line was never meant for me. And I no longer wanted to wait.