Asher
I got Cynthia into my car and drove her back to campus. But she stayed unnervingly quiet all the way back to her room.
It wasn’t usual, her silence. So often, I was the one who didn’t talk and she was the one who would fill the void. I didn’t know how to act if our roles were reversed.
She went where I led her, and sat on the end of her bed. She seemed to stare right through me, like she couldn’t focus.
Her hands trembled. I took them in my own and rubbed my thumbs gently against her palms.
“Cynthia?”
A tear fell from her eye and my heart ached in my chest.
“You are safe now,” I told her.
She shook her head. “He won, Asher,” she whispered, so softly I had to strain to hear her. “I’m going to be kicked from the team, and… it’s over.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
Finally, sh
