Tessy sat in her room for a long time after she finished talking with Dera. She didn't know how long she had been sitting there, but she knew she had taken reasonable time to think about her life.
Everything around her was still, the silence pressing on her like a heavy blanket. The sun had moved behind the clouds outside, casting a muted gray light through her window, as though the sky itself understood what she was going through. Her eyes burned from holding back the tears for too long, and eventually, she gave in, allowing herself to cry just a little more.
A few tears of sadness slid down her cheeks, quiet and slow, like they were too tired to fall. They weren't the kind of sobs that shook your body or demanded attention; they were the kind of tears that came from deep within, from pain that had been buried too long, grief that had grown quiet but never truly left. She cried for the things she couldn't change, the moments she couldn't get back, and the pregnancy she had lost.
