Forbidden
The heavy timber door shut with a dull, echoing thud, followed by the distant sound of her footsteps fading up the concrete stairs.
The silence that returned to the basement was heavy, suffocating, and dripping with an imminent catastrophe.
Anne slowly lowered her hand from Lauren’s mouth, her body going completely limp against the metal rack. She leaned her head onto Lauren’s shoulder, letting out a long, ragged sob that she had been fighting to hold back for the last ten minutes. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably as she wrapped them around Lauren's neck, clinging to the younger woman as if she were a lifeline in the middle of a violent storm.