that comes when you realize you’ve been clenching your jaw in your sleep.
I needed air. I needed movement. I needed something normal.
I opened my apartment door to grab the mail, expecting the usual thin stack of flyers and bills.
And then I froze.
On the porch, placed neatly as if it belonged there, sat a small velvet box.
Deep, dark velvet that caught the light in a soft way. It looked expensive in a way that made my skin go cold. It was too deliberate to be a