ped me from my sleep. Smoke, thick and acrid,

d, my voice cho

against my ribs. The hallway was a haze o

where a

aw him. He was already at the apartment door, but he wasn' t alone. H

the door open and rushed out into the main hallway of the

s the heat intensified around me. He had left me. He ran out w

pulled me towards the exit.

wn on the curb, fussing over her, checking her ankle. She had sprained it a few days ago.

his eyes found me in the crowd. He started w

u okay? I wa

im. The words didn

e shoulder. "Man, that was close. Good thing you got Chloe out. Wi

ining something simple to a child. "You're fine

lking about me like I wasn't even there, l

said, my voice d

re safe. I made sure Chloe was safe because

disbelief washing over me. "I was in there

," Ben cut in. "He did

ack on them and walked away. I couldn't look at their faces

on her couch. The next morning, I went back to what was left of our a

packed a small bag with the few things I had on me and mo

umpy mattress on the floor and stared at the blank walls. It felt empty, but it a

It was a massive bouquet of white lilies, my favorite f

iam' s sig

mall part of me wanted to be happy, to see this as a real apology.

on my desk the next day. The time he missed my father's funeral because of a "work emergency" tha

ve gift at the problem until I got tired of being angry and gave in. He never actua

ing. He thought a bouquet of flowers could e

with a rage that had been simmering for days. I walked

mped the entire bouquet, water and all, into the

my phone buzzed. It was Liam. The tim

enough for the gift to arrive and the

nsw

lm and even. "How are you se

at we were, for all intents and purposes, broken up. It was like he was trying to rewind

dn't know what to say