ra

luxury I cou

murmur of voices, a low laugh from Sofia-were a

system. I lit my second-ever cigarette, the acrid smoke a punishment and a release. Th

y when I saw her. Sofia emerged from Dante's bedroom, wrapped i

e the cat that

ke something the cat had dragge

arly," she chirped, her

asking Dante what he wants to do for his birthday party. He's impossible to

ough my exhaustion. A rainy afternoon year

rumble against my ear, "will always be celeb

he two

hollow space where my

suit, his eyes only for his fiancée. He placed a kiss on her temple

desperate to escape the suff

cut through the air,

request. It

go to the consulate today. Get your visa for Canada sorted."

ping to a low warning, "don't cause a

way for my own good; he was shipping me off like an

oke mingling with the morning mist. The carefully constructed dam I'd built around my emotions shatter

ling me close to shield me from the rain. He was my shelter. Now,

rs, and out the front door, straight into the drizzling rain. I didn't care

a baptism.

mbrella. I didn't n

tand in m

ut, my fingers numb. It was a social media

use, a picture clearly taken some time ago. The o

ly birthday to my Don. Can't

D

he rain. I navigated to Dante's profile, my fingers mov

" I added a polit

f my past. A declaration of surrender

s quickly, I

e wouldn't care. And

tal watch from Sofia, glinting on the desk. Without a secon

n pages of my diary-salvaged from my

ered, small and defiant. I touche

e turning to black ash. I watched them burn,

tside was finally starting to quiet. And for the first time