Chapter 217

Delilah

The sun hadn’t warmed the air nearly enough. It wasn’t cold either, but I felt like everything around me just lose its life. Everything around me just felt empty and quiet.

I felt the sun’s light on my skin, but there was nothing soft about it, nothing that seeped in far enough to melt the weight in my chest. Nothing could help me ease the pain that I felt as I took a breath, as I walked, as I forced myself to keep standing.

I walked down the corridor with even strides, hands relaxed at my sides, back straight, breath steady. It took everything in me to make it look easy. It took everything in me to act as if nothing had happened, to pretend that I was not burning inside.

Ethan followed.

I knew he was there without looking. I heard him, I saw him in the corridor, I even saw the bruise that was on his cheek. But I did my best not to acknowledge him, not to acknowledge it, not to say a word.

I heard his footsteps, the way they slowed