*Cat*

My lies weighed heavily on my shoulders as we drove away, leaving Elio in the parking lot of the cathedral where we would get married in only two months. I felt like Atlas carrying the world, crushed under its weight as I gently brushed the hair of our sleeping child, images of guns being put to her little head flashing through my mind.

I shut my eyes, trying to will them away, but the fear was visceral like acid being poured down my throat.

I’d ...