Chapter 47\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fincs i was alons in the quirt homer, the reality of what had just happened hit me like a physical blow to the chest. Fd completely fallen apart at His mers possibility that Basun had found me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All my training with Marens and Sarah, all my progress toward feeding stronger and more confident, all my determination to never he\u00a0<\/p>\n
A victim again. It had all crumbled the moment I thought I saw his familiar silhouette,\u00a0<\/p>\n
What dot that say slant me? About how far I\u2019d really come? Maybe I was just fooling myself, playing dress\u2013up in someone else\u2019s idea\u00a0<\/p>\n
of strength white remaining the amme terrified girl I\u2019d always been underneath\u00a0<\/p>\n
I wandered through the house aimlessly, turning on lights and checking locks even though I knew rationally that I was safe here, Tristan\u2019s presence anally made the space feel warm and welcoming, but without him, it fell too big, too empty, too full of shadows where Threats could hide.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I waited for Tristan to come home, checking the clock every few minutes as the hours crawled by with agonizing slowness. Ten o\u2019clock came and went with no sign of him. Then eleven. Then midnight struck on the old clock in the hallway, each chime echoing through the silent house like a countdown to something terrible,\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maybe he wasn\u2019t coming back tonight. Maybe Seraphine needed him more than I did, and he\u2019d decided to stay at the hospital to keep vigil by her bedside,\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alaybe he\u2019d finally realised that taking on of his best friend\u2019s broken sister was more of a burden than he\u2019d signed up for when he\u00a0<\/p>\n
offered me a place to stay.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The thought shouldn\u2019t have hurt as much as it did, but it felt like another rejection, another confirmation that I was too damaged to be worth nyone\u2019s sustained Contion\u00a0<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Daxon\u2019s face not the stranger\u2019s kind features, but the real face that still haunted\u00a0<\/p>\n
my nightmares.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I thought I heard his voice calling my name from somewhere in the darkness outside, that cruel tone he used to use when he was\u00a0<\/p>\n
hunting for me\u00a0<\/p>\n
our apartment after I\u2019d tried to hide from one of his rages,\u00a0<\/p>\n
My hands wouldn\u2019t stop shaking, and my heart kept racing like I\u2019d been running for miles. The panic was building again, that familiar crushing weight on my chest that made it hard to breathe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I needed to calm down. I needed to sleep so I could function tomorrow, so I could pretend to be okay when Tristan eventually came home and asked how my evening went. I couldn\u2019t let him see me like this- falling apart over what turned out to be absolutely nothing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My bag was sitting on the dresser where I\u2019d dropped it earlier, and I stared at it for a long time before finally walking over and unzipping the front pocket with trembling fingers. The pill bottle was exactly where I\u2019d left it, despite my solemn promises to myself that I\u2019d never touch it again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
18:37 Fri, Jan 2 d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 47\u00a0<\/p>\n
46\u00a0<\/p>\n
The pills had been my escape during the worst months with Daxon, the only thing that could quiet the constant fear and anxiety enough for me to sleep through the night without waking up screaming. I\u2019d been clean for months now, had been so proud of myself for learning to cope without chemical assistance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But tonight felt different. Tonight felt like an emergency, like a situation where my usual coping mechanisms weren\u2019t going to be\u00a0<\/p>\n
enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My hands were shaking so badly I could barely get the child\u2013proof cap off the bottle. A few pills spilled onto the dresser, and I stared at them for a moment, tears already starting to fall down my cheeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m safe,\u201d I whispered to myself as I picked up the pills with trembling fingers. \u201cDaxon can\u2019t find me here. I\u2019m thousands of miles\u00a0<\/p>\n
away from him. I\u2019m safe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
But even as I said the words, they felt hollow, meaningless. Safety felt like something that existed for other people, not for girls like\u00a0<\/p>\n
me who\u2019d made such terrible choices and trusted the wrong person so completely.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m safe,\u201d I repeated, forcing the pills into my mouth before I could change my mind and throw them away like I should have. \u201cDaxon\u00a0<\/p>\n
is far away. He doesn\u2019t even know where I am. I\u2019m safe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The bitter taste made me gag, but I swallowed them down with water from the glass by my bed. Within minutes, I could feel the familiar fog starting to settle over my thoughts, the sharp edges of my panic beginning to soften and blur.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was already feeling drowsy, my eyelids growing heavy, when I heard the front door open downstairs. Footsteps on the stairs, quick\u00a0<\/p>\n
and urgent, taking them two at a time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAthena?\u201d Tristan\u2019s voice, calling my name with what sounded like genuine worry and maybe a hint of panic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I tried to answer, to call out that I was okay, but my tongue felt thick and clumsy in my mouth. The room was starting to spin gently, and I could feel myself sliding sideways on the bed, my body no longer responding to my commands.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maybe I\u2019d taken too many. Maybe my tolerance wasn\u2019t what it used to be after months of being clean. The thought should have scared me, should have sent me into full panic mode, but the pills were making everything feel far away and unimportant, like it was happening\u00a0<\/p>\n
to someone else.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The last thing I remembered was Tristan bursting through my bedroom door, his face white with panic as he rushed toward me, his hands reaching out to catch me before I could fall completely.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cStay with me,\u201d I heard him saying, though his voice sounded like it was coming from very far away, echoing down a long tunnel. \u201cI\u2019m sorry I left you. I\u2019m so sorry. Just stay with me, Athena.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the darkness was already pulling me under, and I couldn\u2019t fight it anymore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland\u2019s breathtaking cold.<\/p>\n
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 47 Chapter 47\u00a0 Fincs i was alons in the quirt homer, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-second-gear-of-love-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26204\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}