When I wake up, she’s gone.

It’s like having a claw hammer buried in my skull.

I dive out of bed with a bellow, clutching at the sheets like I’m going to find her hidden in there. Where the hell did she go? Where the fuck did she go?

The anger has returned with a vengeance in her absence.

I scratch at my chest until blood shows up in angry welts. When she was in my arms, the snakes were kept at bay. Now she’s gone and they’re bigger, more vicious.

“Stella!”

I rampage through ...