I had shouted for Zacharias a dozen times the moment I got out of the shower, but he was nowhere around. He had abandoned me at a crucial time, running away from his problems like a coward.
I was left alone for the rest of the day, and it was driving me crazy. It felt like cruel and unusual punishment, as if Zacharias was disciplining me because he told me that he loved me. And the longer I paced back and forth in his bedroom, the more guilty I began to feel for something that wasn’t my fault. I had forgotten that with Zacharias there was never impunity.
I had sat and stewed in the shower until the water ran cold and I was shivering. My lips had been blue and my skin blanched, but I could still feel the heat from my tears as I cried amidst the running water. My thoughts were spinning and
