Midnight Cravings

Previously

…But this morning, the toast was just a phantom, a memory of a life I was already starting to feel a peculiar distance from. The silence in my kitchen was deeper, more profound than usual, punctuated only by the soft whir of the refrigerator, a sound that used to blend into the background noise of my existence, but now seemed to hum with a question. Had I made a mistake? The thought, uninvited and unwelcome, coiled in my stomach like a cold serpent. It slithered through the lingering warmth of the night, a stark contrast to the intoxicating fever that had consumed me just hours before. Elias.