ADRIAN returned home, his steps dragging as if each one carried the weight of a thousand bricks. The door creaked open and closed behind him, and the silence of the house pressed in on him like a suffocating blanket.

He moved slowly into the living room.

There she was— Amelia.

Seated on the couch, her head leaned against the armrest, her posture weary and broken. She looked nothing like the strong, vibrant woman he had married. Now, she was a shadow of herself, her shoulders curved inward as though the world had pushed her down and she no longer had the strength to resist.

She was backing the entrance, so...