At first, confusion clouded Jayden's mind, warping his immediate perception into a suffocating haze. A crushing weight settled heavily against his chest, as though an invisible, leaden stone were pressing the air straight out of his lungs. Every breath he drew felt strained, shallow, and agonizingly difficult to pull into his aching throat.
His eyes locked onto the scene unfolding inside the dimly lit bedroom. Keith was reclining on the bed, half-slumped just behind Sarah, his fingers moving with an unnerving, intimate casualness through her hair. Sarah remained fast asleep, curled on her side, completely oblivious to the man hovering over her, tenderly stroking the strands lying across her pillow.
"Sarah?"
Jayden's voice sliced through the heavy silence of the apartment, tight and fraught with disbelief.
