The silence in the room pressed down on me like a suffocating weight. The echoes of Ricks scream still clung to the walls, haunting my dream, the images I just saw burned raw on my mind, the sound seemed trapped in my ears, never-ending. Rick’s lifeless face wouldn’t leave my mind—the hollow eyes, the slack jaw, the stillness that had no place on him.

I curled into myself on my bed, knees pressed to my chest. Every breath I took trembled with the threat of breaking apart. He had been ...