Shirley
The silence in the house wasn’t peaceful. It was suffocating.
I sat by the window, arms wrapped around my knees, watching the empty street outside like something might crawl out of the shadows and come knocking. Curfew had officially begun, but Ashridge was already the kind of town where night came early and people stayed inside. Now, the emptiness felt deliberate—forced. Like everyone was hiding from something no one wanted to name.
I hadn’t heard from Dante since he left. And I hated how much that bothered me.
Not just because he had kissed me—almost—or because he’d seen me at my most vulnerable. It was something deeper. Like my body hadn’t stopped buzzing since he walked out the door. Every time I breathed, I could still smell him.
I shook the thought off and stood.
Enough
