Whispers Through the Wall
**
And most of all—**why did it still matter to him?
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He tried to write. No words.
He tried to clean. His mind kept wandering.
He tried to sleep, and all he could think was about her face, a few feet away, separated from him by drywall and denial.
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That evening, he snapped.
Ethan leaned against the wall, his hand flat against it. The muffled sound of her music filtered through on the other side—some slow, sorrowful tune. It was too much.
He pounded his fist once. Not hard. Just enough to say, *I'm here.*