The Unspoken Farewell

The dawn arrived not with a triumphant fanfare, but with a hesitant sigh, a delicate brushstroke of pale lavender against the bruised indigo of night. Carol watched it from the window, her reflection a ghostly counterpoint to the waking world. The air in the small room, once alive with shared laughter and the soft cadence of his breathing, now felt thin, brittle, as if it might shatter with a single harsh sound. She had slept, or rather, existed in a state of suspended animation, the sheets cool