It begins not with a bang, but with a quiet tremor, a subtle shift in the tectonic plates of your world. I don't feel it at first, not really. The pain will come later, a tidal wave that has been gathering strength miles offshore. At first, there is only the eerie calm of disbelief. A strange lightness fills me, a suspension of gravity, as if the world has tilted on its axis without warning, and my mind is still waiting for the memo. No. The word is not a thought; it is an in

A hollow drops into my gut first. A dull ache. A sick, heavy emptiness, like something reached through my ribs and pulled out the piece that kept me whole. My breathing turns shallow, catching in my throat as if the air itself forgot how to reach me. Then comes the disbelief. No. This cannot be real. The person. The dream. The home. The future I built my identity around — gone. My mind becomes a torture chamber, replaying the last moments on a loop. The way they laughed, the