(Mira)
He carried me the rest of the way down the path, the trees thinning out as we walked until the lake opened up fully in front of us. The dock stretched out over the water, simple wood, worn but solid, the kind of thing that had been there long enough to earn its place. The surface of the lake looked endless from where we stood, pale light reflecting across it in long quiet lines that went further than I could follow. Ridge stepped onto the boards and walked to the end without rushing, like he wanted me to take in every part of it before he said anything.
I looked out at the water and felt something in me go still in a way it hadn't in a long time. Not the kind of still that came from being too tired to feel anything. The other kind. The kind that meant something had finally stopped
