YOURS UNTIL IT WASN'T

ang out, sharp and cutting, as if the words themselves could s

urned white. Her reflection stared back at her, hollow-eyed and distant. She barely recognized herself

s insistence that she wash him away. Scrub herself clean. She'd done it already.

r mother repeated, her voice

ver her trembling hands. She hadn't argued. She couldn't. Arguing would mean explaining

like a record stuck on repeat. "How do I make it

each one carrying the weight of truth she hadn't asked for. The screenshots had come next

last night. Can't w

h harder than the last as she scrolled through the evidence. The timestamp

d in her hands, her stomach churning with nausea and disbelief. T

romised her forever, who had made her laugh until her ribs ache

now t

e on the screen. The phone rang and rang, but he didn't answer. She left

didn

idence still sat on her phone, glaring at her, demanding answers. She had driven over to his apartment, rehearsing what she

was blocked off. Flashing red and blue lights filled

sank. Somethi

pushed through the crowd. All she remembered was the officer who

he words "car accident"and "didn't survive" had

b was

l wave of guilt and anguish. The confrontation she'd planned wou

ed him. And now, she had lost h

hower brought her b

rain. Her skin was already raw from the first two times she'd done this, but she didn't car

, her face softening as she looked at Nor

't tell me it's going to get better. Don't tell me to

not saying it's easy. But torturing yourself like this

red. "I found out he cheated on me, Mom. The same day he died. How do I even..." Her voice broke, and she sho

tened further, but she

hought about the Caleb she had loved. Haa. The Caleb who had kissed her in the rain, who had taught h

texts. The lies. The betrayal

nds with shaky breaths. "I still smell like him," she

way, her heart breaking for her daughter b

to erase a man who had left her with nothing but questions