MELISSA’S POV

Ever since I left Xavier’s house that night, my life seemed to have lost its color. Everything felt dimmer, quieter, as though someone had drained the life out of the world. The city outside my window kept moving, people kept living, but for me, time felt suspended in this cruel space where I was neither moving forward nor going back.

I woke up each morning staring at the ceiling, heavy in my chest, my mind blank at first but then slowly rushing back with the memory of ...