ke as she ans

t let loose, every quiet disaster. She lifts the phone to her ear. The screen fades to black as the call connects, right as the world

ri

She knows i

ll, ho

als and betrayals, before endings that were planned out in cold, careful st

roat t

et out a wo

-doesn't fit with everything awful that's happened the last few

are yo

collapses. She has to choke it down, push it

it's clear. He's measuring her, liste

ter now-tender in a way that almost sounds re

ghter and Jayson in the middle of it all, hand at the s

s burst

right.

s space between parties and hospital rooms, something inside h

e?" Her voice is ba

y crack something open. They mean m

t answer

she's sure he knows. Or maybe he doesn't. Maybe the noise on his end d

the phon

en as she says it,

tracted. "I'm at a thing. W

s if it's harmless. As if p

hind her eyelids isn't any kinder

w. Her composure, whatever was left

his end creeps closer: music, laughing, talki

," he say

makes it. No apology.

arp ache beneath the wei

ice sp

dyi

een them. He hesitates, and she wonders if the call just droppe

arts, her name s

elieve he'll soften. Maybe he'll c

h

ruin my

asual.

ence. The li

or a moment she waits, as if something else might

th

is her reflection, pale and warped by the glass, blinking aga

tands

deep, not stead

houts, the party keeps rolling like nothing happened. Like her life

p on the phone. The

never missed her, sees Jayson easily trading in her me

eels blurry

ll the pain put together. It's not relief. It's

calls

else to

he just empties out, like the

r ground. The laughter and light fade as she slips into

s keep coming, ruthles

le bit-her body tips. Unsteady was already her default. Now it

She hits the groun

sound. She doesn't

almost comforting-at least it's r

nce Jayson turned his back, since her

ng up. N

ne searching for so

ky bursts again-

side the darknes