C31 The Cracks Within

The phone lay face-down on the floor, its screen still glowing faintly before fading into black. Arun sat beside it, knees pulled up, his head buried in his arms.

He hadn’t cried in years. Fighters didn’t cry—they bled, they endured, they bit down and kept going. But now his chest ached like a bruise that went all the way through to bone.

Mai.

Her voice replayed in his mind