[WARNING! Unedited! Don't buy!]
The hours slipped by without our permission. Somewhere between silence and tea refills, the world outside continued on—unbothered by the fact that we had quietly begun rewriting the rules of our lives.
At some point, Lyander had dozed off on the couch beside me. Not deeply, just one of those light sleeps that came when the body was warm, the lights were low, and for once, there was no need to perform. His head tilted slightly toward mine, arm still slung behind me like a barrier against the chaos we'd both lived through.
I didn't move. I let myself exist in the stillness. I watched the fire burn down to soft orange coils, the kind that barely made sound but still offered heat. I thought about how strange it was that the loudest moments in life were sometimes made up of absolute quiet.
And then, as if reading my mind, Lyander stirred and murmured, "Still here?"
"Still here," I replied, barely above a whisper.
