The 3:00 AM air was freezing, the kind of cold that seeps into your bones when your heart has stopped pumping warmth. Max finally couldn't take the silence behind the door anymore. He turned the handle slowly, and the hinges let out a tiny, mournful creak as he stepped into the dark room.
Ruby was a small, broken shadow on the floor. She wasn't sobbing anymore, she was just staring, her eyes wide and glassy, fixed on a spot in the air that didn't exist. She looked like a porcelain doll that had been dropped and glued back together, but with all the light gone from the paint.
When Max knelt and slid his arms under her, she didn't fight. She didn't have the strength left to be angry. She was just... empty.
