A strange, heavy weight sat deep in my chest the moment I woke up. It wasn’t sad. It wasn’t angry. It was just a thick, dull feeling. My body was awake, but my mind was stuck in the fog of last night.

I stared at the ceiling. The silence wrapped around me like a thin, cool blanket. The things that happened yesterday floated in my memory like ghosts that would not leave.

My father. Lila. My mother’s shaking hands. Her voice, cracked and sharp with pain.

And Santino. His eyes when I yelled ...