Chapter 5: A Truce Under the Moon

The cycle of pain became my new reality. For three days, I would endure the escalating agony—the hollow ache, the feverish chills, the sharp stabs that left me breathless. It was a countdown to madness. On the evening of the third day, just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore, he would appear at my door. He never said much. A grim, terse acknowledgment of our shared curse. He would step inside, and the relief would be so immediate and overwhelming that I would nearly collapse. Sometimes,...