Chapter 13

• The silence was heavier than the duvet she’d flung aside. It pressed in on her, cold and absolute. For a few minutes, Renee just sat there, rocking slightly, listening to the frantic thumping of her own heart trying to escape her chest. The anger had burned itself out, leaving behind a vast, hollow space filled only with dread.
• She pulled her knees closer, burying her face into her tights, trying to block out the sight of the room, the memory of everything. She needed to breathe, to think, but every attempt at logic was drowned out by the echo of Kelvin’s voice: “Slut! Ungrateful whore!”
• Suddenly, her mobile phone, lying face down on the small side table, began to buzz. Not the polite notification buzz, but a rapid, angry, insistent vibration.