Tessa.
I sat there clutching the blanket like it was the only solid thing left in a world I no longer recognized.My fingers twisted into the fabric so tightly that my knuckles turned white, but it was the only anchor I had.Everything else, the lights, the beeping machines, the sterile smell of antiseptic, the faces in the room felt distant, almost dreamlike.
My heartbeat wouldn't slow down.
It raced and hammered, trying to beat through my ribs as though running from something invisible.Every breath came shallow and stiff, like my lungs had forgotten how to work, like I needed to relearn the most basic instinct of living.
Married.
I was married.
Not just the idea of marriage, not a vague concept or a word floating in the air.
It was claimed.
Sealed.
Done.
To him.
The words crashed again and again inside my skull, refusing to settle into a neat shape I could understand.
How could I be married and not know?
