Regina walked alone through the dead of winter, the bitter wind slashing across her cheeks like icy claws. Her body had long gone numb from the cold, but still, she didn't stop. Her phone buzzed again and again, the vibration echoing hollowly against the emptiness of the night.
She ignored it.
Only when the battery finally died—and silence engulfed her—did she finally seem to feel the exhaustion. Slowly, she sat down on the frozen edge of the curb.
The concrete bit into her through her clothes, stealing heat from her like a predator gnawing at prey. She curled into herself, tucking her face into the crook of her arm, forehead pressed against her knees. She didn't cry. She wasn't even sad. It was as if her whole being had collapsed inward, swallowed into a dimension no one else could reach.
