Walk

. It was more than a living being I' d lost; it was a future, a hope, a fragile piece of myse

self-harm, of trying to hurt her baby. She then threatened to throw herself from the second-story window, a dramatic performance that immediately drew Jacob's atten

have pulled away from Kierra, the public scandal, the loss of our child, perhaps finally cracking his facade of misplaced responsibility.

When I finally found my voice, it was a ho

nees, again, clinging to me, tears streaming down his face. He swore on his life, on our shared past, on the me

acob, the boy I' d loved with every fiber of my being, resurfaced. I remembered his earnest face in high school, how he' d held my hand through my grandmoth

tment, our engagement. Our love, once so innocent and pure, had become a twiste

th were real. Both

. I remembered a darker time years ago, when a severe anxiety disorder had crippled me, leaving me unable to sleep, unable to function. Jacob had been my unwaverin

m now? Hadn't he, in his own twi

ce. "I' ll try, Jacob," I whispered, the words tasting like ash in my mouth. "One more time. But this is it. This is t

phantom child we could have had. And now, I realized, there was truly