It was a Tuesday morning when it happened, or rather when it did not happen.
I woke at the fifth hour, which was slightly earlier than usual, in the particular way of waking that happened without an alarm and without a specific reason, the body simply deciding that sleep was complete and it was time to be conscious. The room was dark, the curtains still drawn against the winter morning, and Darius was asleep beside me with the absolute stillness of a man who slept the way he did everything, completely and without half-measures.
I lay in the dark for a moment, and in that moment, something happened that I had not noticed happening until it did not happen.
I did not reach for the system.
