ARIA
The plastic bag swung lightly against my thigh as I walked back from the corner convenience store. Olivia had insisted she needed soy sauce, the good kind, not that watered-down crap, she'd said with a roll of her eyes, because she was making dinner as usual. Somehow, she'd made herself powerful enough in my kitchen to commandeer it, and though I should've been irritated, I wasn't. Not really.
It had been… nice. Having Olivia here with the kids. Hearing the laughter echo through the rooms that once only held silence. It patched holes I didn't know were still bleeding. For what seemed like so long, this apartment had been nothing but a coffin I drank myself into, bottle after bottle until I passed out, hoping morning wouldn't come. I remembered nights I couldn't even bring myself to call Kael, to reach for the one person who could've pulled me out. Nights I wanted to disappear instead.
