The house was still. The world was still. I was just a woman in a room, surrounded by all the things I had ever tried to keep safe. And they were all falling apart anyway.

I turned over. I didn’t cry. I just waited for the morning. I knew that when the sun came up, I would have to start all over again. I would have to find a way to fix what I had broken.

But for tonight, I just let the silence hold me. It was the only thing left in the house that followed the rules.