Sixty-Nine

Olivia Westview

I woke up feeling numb.

It was the kind of numb that wraps around you so tightly you can’t breathe, can’t think, can’t feel anything but the suffocating weight of it all. My eyes blinked open, greeted by the familiar walls of my bedroom, the comforting things I’d grown up with. But none of it offered any solace. The ache was still there, a dull throb in my chest.

I stared at the ceiling, trying to will myself to feel… something. Anything. But I couldn’t. I felt like a robot, moving through the motions of life without the energy or desire to face the day. And the last thing I wanted to do was go to work. The thought of stepping into that office and seeing him was unbearable. The humiliation from last night still clung to me like a bad stench. I’d ru……