Maya couldn’t shake the image of Alex and Sarah from her mind. The way they had looked at each other with effortless ease, laughing as if the world around them didn’t exist. She replayed the moment over and over: her confrontation, their silence, the complete dismissal of her presence. It wasn’t just their betrayal that stung—it was their indifference.

That evening, Maya lay on her bed, staring at the cracks on the ceiling, each line forming a labyrinth of her thoughts. The heaviness in her chest grew with every memory that surfaced.

How could they? How could Sarah?

Maya had always thought of Sarah as a sister, the one person she could confide in when the world felt overwhelming. And Alex… He had been her sanctuary, the man she had chosen to fight for despite her doubts. Now, both of them had destroyed her trust and left her floundering in a sea of despair.

She turned on her side, willing sleep to come. But it didn’t. It couldn’t.

At 7:25 p.m., her phone buzzed, the soft vibration pulling her from her turbulent thoughts. Reluctantly, she picked it up, only to feel her stomach twist.

The screen displayed a message from Alex:

"Please find a place in your heart to forgive me."

The words were short, simple, and utterly infuriating.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Maya sat up in bed, her fingers gripping the phone tightly. Forgiveness? After everything he had done, he had the gall to ask for her forgiveness? She wanted to scream, to hurl the phone across the room, but instead, she simply locked the screen and set it down.

Not tonight, Alex. Not ever.

She needed to escape the suffocating confines of her apartment. Grabbing her keys, she headed to the grocery store. The brightly lit aisles and mundane act of shopping felt like a temporary refuge from her spiraling thoughts. She wandered aimlessly, picking up items she didn’t need, her mind miles away.

When she returned home, she unpacked the groceries and forced herself to focus on her work. The project she had been putting off for days now seemed like the perfect distraction.

As she immersed herself in spreadsheets and design drafts, her phone buzzed again.

Jason.

His name flashed on the screen. Maya’s heart skipped, but she didn’t pick up. The phone buzzed again. And again.

Jason kept calling, his persistence unsettling her. She glanced at the phone with a mix of curiosity and reluctance, but she couldn’t bring herself to answer. Not tonight.

Instead, she buried herself in her work, determined to ignore the world outside. But then, at 9:40 p.m., a new notification appeared.

A text message.

She glanced at her phone and froze.

"Sarah is dead."

The three words hit her like a tidal wave. Her breath caught in her throat, her chest tightening as her mind struggled to process what she was seeing.

"Sarah is dead."

She read it again, her fingers trembling as she held the phone. Was this some kind of sick joke? Her first instinct was to call Jason and demand an explanation, but her body felt paralyzed.

Her thoughts swirled, chaotic and dark. Was this real? How could Sarah be dead?

Maya stood slowly, pacing the length of her apartment as her mind raced. She could feel her pulse hammering in her ears, her breaths coming shallow and quick.

She wanted to scream, to cry, but no sound came. The betrayal she had been grappling with only hours earlier now seemed distant, overshadowed by this devastating news.

As she sat back down, the silence in her apartment pressed down on her. She clutched her phone, staring at the text as if it might change, as if she could will it into something else.

But the words remained.

"Sarah is dead."

The night stretched on, heavy and endless. Maya felt like she was trapped in a nightmare, the boundaries between reality and her darkest fears blurring. She didn’t know what to think, what to feel, or what to do next.

All she knew was that something had shif

ted, irreparably, and her life would never be the same again.

Stay tuned for more....