Chapter 1
The room fell quiet in a single night. After she left, the world didn’t end with a crash; it simply faded into a cold, muted gray. The latch clicked shut, and in that tiny, definitive sound, the universe I had built inside these four walls completely fractured. Solitude wasn’t just the lack of noise—it became a physical presence. It settled over the furniture like fine ash, heavy and cold. The coffee mug on the counter was no longer a comfort, but a monument to a morning routine that had bled to death. I reached out into the empty space beside me on the mattress, my fingers meeting only the chill of the sheets. To be alone after she left was not just to be by myself; it was the sharp, constant awareness of the exact heartbeat that was missing. I sat in the dim amber light of the streetlamps, watching cage-like shadows stretch across the floor, realizing that the warmth of my life had pulled its roots from my soil and walked a hundred miles away.
