Vanessa
The silence in my apartment is no longer silence, it's noise.
Noise of thoughts that won't shut up, noise of images that return again and again, the noise of their smiles… Their smiles.
I clutch my phone between my fingers as the screen illuminates my face in the dim light.
The photo is still there, Clara dressed in white. Ethan looking at her as if no one else in the world existed.
I swallow, but it doesn't go away. That lump is still there, stuck in my throat, as if it refuses to let me breathe normally.
"Congratulations on your marriage…" I murmur with a smile I don't feel.
My eyes slowly lower to the table in front of me, the bouquet… White roses, perfect, flawless, untouched.
My fingers glide over one of the petals, with an almost reverent gentleness.
White… Always w
