~Alexander's POV~
The drive home was the longest of my life. Every mile that took me farther away from Alis felt like something was tearing inside my chest.
By the time I stepped into our bedroom, the silence hit me immediately. It was too quiet… too empty. I sat down on the edge of the bed, my eyes falling on the space beside me where he was supposed to be.
The weight of the one-month deadline settled heavily on me. I looked around the room, and somehow he was everywhere, in the slight dent on the pillow, in the faint trace of his presence that hadn't faded yet. It felt like he was still here… and yet he wasn't.
I swallowed hard, my chest heavy. If I couldn't get through to my mother… if I failed… then this would be my reality.
Sleeping alone in a house that no longer felt like a home, but a place filled with everything I had lost.
