Arabella awoke hours before sunrise. Not that sleep came easy as even tossing and turning between her bed and sheets did her no good.
Whenever she'd dozed off, her own body would jerk her out of it as though foreseeing the nightmares that were in the works for that night, and after such a day, it only made sense.
The memory of the carriage carrying her father leaving just like it'd come wouldn't set her free. The way it shrank the more distance the horses carved between them and the manor until not a trace of it remained, brought her both relief and pain in waves of equal sizes and power, clashing and crashing, resulting in a void that was tough to fill.
By then, her tears had run dry, leaving but swelling and redness as proof of all the crying the was done.
