The sun didn’t rise like it used to. Not for me.

I stayed curled beside Adrian most mornings, tracing the edge of his heartbeat with my fingers, pretending I couldn’t feel the anxiety in his chest. Pretending my sister wasn’t haunting the shadows of our home. Pretending her last message wasn’t still burned into the corners of my mind.

I want him.

She didn’t mean Adrian.

She meant the child inside me.

I couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t dream. I lived between fear and resolve. Every ...