Selena
The evening was quiet, but there was nothing peaceful about it, because the silence that filled the cave felt heavy and unmoving, as though the air itself had settled into something thick that pressed gently but persistently against my chest.
I sat where I had been for what felt like hours, my back resting against the cold stone wall, my body still while my thoughts drifted in slow, tired circles that never quite reached anywhere new.
The sting on my cheek had long faded into something dull and distant, a faint reminder rather than an active pain, and I found that it barely mattered when compared to the deeper ache that had taken root inside me over the past months.
That ache had changed in a way I could not ignore.
It no longer clawed at me or demanded to be felt, and it no longer rose sharply enough to steal my breath or make my chest tighten in panic.
