After a while, Stella's tears stopped.
Not because she felt better, nor because the pain had eased even slightly.
The weight pressing against her chest hadn't grown lighter. If anything, it felt heavier now, like something inside had settled inside her and refused to leave
No.
She simply could not cry anymore.
Her tears had dried out.
Her body had exhausted itself. It had reached its limit of venting out her sadness. The tears had poured out of her entirely, wrung from her like water from a soaked cloth, leaving behind only swollen eyelids, a raw, burning throat, and an emptiness that felt far worse than the sobbing ever had.
Her breathing, which had been uneven and desperate, slowly steadied, though it trembled faintly at the edges. Each inhale felt thin, like one wrong word could shatter her again.
Her fingers, which had been gripping Julia's sleeve so tightly, so desperately, slowly loosened little by little.
