KAEL
The apartment wasn't just quiet; it was a vacuum. A sealed tomb where sound went to die.
The morning light didn't stream in, it seeped, pale and anemic, through the thin curtains, illuminating dust motes that drifted like the ashes of a forgotten life. The silence wasn't oppressive anymore; it was hollow. A cavernous emptiness that echoed with the ghost of a laugh that would never sound here again.
My phone was a cold, hard weight in my palm. The screen glowed, a lone beacon in the dim room, and her face filled it.
Aria.
It was the stolen picture I'd taken months ago, a secret moment of unguarded joy. And I had captured it, a perfect, fleeting moment of a happiness I hadn't known how to cherish until it was gone.
A physical ache bloomed in my chest, so sharp and sudden it stole my breath. I wanted to reach through the glass. To feel the softness of her hair between my fingers, to trace the line of her jaw, to press my lips to the pulse beating at the base of her throat.
