Maria.
I closed my eyes.
The sound of his footsteps echoed faintly down the hallway, growing softer… and softer… until they finally disappeared into silence. I stayed still even after they were gone, as though moving would somehow make his words return.
And then the tears I had fought so desperately to hold back slipped free.
They didn't fall slowly.
They spilled.
Hot and relentless, sliding down my cheeks in uneven trails. My chest tightened painfully as the sob I had swallowed earlier forced its way out. The control I had clung to shattered the moment I was alone.
My legs gave out beneath me.
It wasn't graceful.
It wasn't controlled.
It was instant.
The strength that had barely kept me upright dissolved completely, and I sank to the cold floor, the impact jarring through my fragile body. I didn't even try to stop myself. I couldn't.
My knees hit first, then my palms, before I collapsed fully onto the ground.
My legs were too weak to hold me anymore.
Too heavy.
