I couldn't stop crying.
The words bled into me like poison, filling every vein, every thought.
Everything I thought I knew, every quiet morning in this house, every hug, every bedtime story, crumbled like ash in my hands.
My entire world was a lie.
And I couldn't hold it in.
The tears wouldn't stop. They poured out of me, hot and endless, my throat burning with the sound of it.
Ugly, guttural, gasping cries that made me choke on my own breath.
I pressed my palms to my eyes until I saw stars, but it didn't help. I wanted to claw the truth out of me, scrape it out, pretend I'd never read those words.
I cried until my voice was gone, until my chest ached like I'd been split in two.
I cried until there was nothing left in me but shudders and hiccups, my breath stuttering against the silence of the house.
