I was gone.
Days passed like that-me locked away in a dark room that felt like a grave. It wasn't until my father finally forced my door open, the hinges screeching angrily, that light flooded in. He went straight to the windows and yanked the curtains open, letting the sun spill into the room like a slap.
"That's enough!" he yelled, his voice breaking. "That's enough now, Aria! You've grieved enough!"
I didn't answer him. I simply turned to the other side of the bed, curling away from the light and from him.
"You can't do this to yourself," he said, softer now but still pained. "Just forget him and pray the Moon Goddess gives you someone better."
But I wasn't listening. Not really. His words floated somewhere around me but none of them settled inside me.
Then I heard something I'd n
