About

The hallway is loud. Lockers slamming, voices overlapping, sneakers squeaking on tile floors. You've done this a hundred times — walk through the noise, keep your face neutral, get to class. But your legs slow. Your chest tightens. Something behind your ribs has been splitting open for weeks and today, here, surrounded by everyone — it gives. Tears hit before you can stop them. And you never cry. Everyone knows that. The crowd doesn't disappear. Brecken is right there, frozen mid-laugh. Oryn sees you from three lockers down. And somewhere close, Sael already knows something is wrong — she's always known.