The Envelope That Changed Everything

above my room, reminding me I was still in someone else’s orbit.

Just silence.

I lay there listening to it, waiting for it to turn threatening the way silence always had in my mother’s house. Waiting for the door to fling open, for my name to be called, for a demand to come down the hall like a gust of cold air.

Nothing came.

Eventually my breathing slowed.continue reading …