No Love, Only Ash

sat in a thin vase in the center of the table. I smoothed down the fron

ye

life, poured

e two thin blue lines on the test stick I' d stared at this mor

n' t Liam. It was a notification fro

eath

. The ghost that never

e roar of engines and shouting. It was the old abandon

en I s

i

g from his lips. Chloe was next to him, her arm looped through his, her

with fake sweetness. "The one and only Liam, my favorite art

, seemed to look right t

g up messes, you know? But then there are p

creen. Hearts. Fire emojis

e me-it all felt like a joke. A decade of patience, of therapy sessions, of la

for the same woman who br

and clattered onto the hardwo

ked at my reflection in the mirror. My face was pale. The

mber for the clinic I had researched weeks ago, a 'j

alm, detached. I scheduled an a

d dreamed of, was a sacrifice I had to make. I co

front door opened and closed softly. He smelled of

fa, staring at the bl

knelt in front of me, trying to take my

dge on his collar, a mark that wasn't mine. It was a

eady forming on his lips. "She's been going through a lot. You know how

f, looking at

fragile, Ava.

a word. I just

he drinking. The bouts of depression where he couldn't leave his bed for a week. The tim

cerity, "You are my anchor, Ava. You are my home. I

sh in my mouth. He wasn't in