Chapter 5

The darkness in my apartment had become a living thing, wrapping around me like a second skin that I couldn't shed. For three weeks, I'd barely left my bed except to stumble to the bathroom or grab whatever expired food I could find in my empty refrigerator. The curtains stayed drawn, blocking out a world that had made it clear I no longer belonged in it.

I replayed every moment with Nathan like a masochist picking at a wound. Every late-night conversation where he'd told me I was brilliant. Every stolen kiss in his office after hours. Every time he'd…