Chapter 57 - 57:The Question That Stays

Jay pulled the car into the familiar curb of his neighborhood, the streetlights flickering weakly above as a light drizzle began to spread across the windshield in thin, restless streaks. He stayed there for a moment after turning off the engine, his hands still resting on the steering wheel, his head slightly lowered as the quiet filled the space around him. The silence should have felt like relief after the long day, after the suffocating pressure of the office, after the constant weight of eyes and suspicion and unfinished answers, but it didn't settle the way he needed it to. Instead, it pressed inward, heavy and unresolved, sitting somewhere deep in his chest where nothing had eased since morning.