Paper Trails

She flipped through the pages, her fingers trembling as they skimmed the coarse paper. The edges were sharp, threatening to cut, but her touch lingered anyway. Her eyes stayed fixed, scanning the black-inked letters that held the finality she hadn’t dared to name.

Her lips pressed into a thin line as her face grew pale. A shallow breath. A hard swallow. Dampness gathered on her temples, her skin betraying the            of the words etched into the document.

Her finger returned to the box, tracing its neat border again and again, as if s.t.a.l.l.i.n.g for time. Her gaze, unwavering, drifted back to the word that marked the end of what once felt unbreakable.

The papers slipped slightly in her grasp. A sigh escaped her lips, quiet and hollow. She sat still, caught in the silence of a name crossed out and a bond dissolved into ink.

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