Chapter 55 - No Going Back
The room felt strangely quiet after the call ended.
Athena kept staring at the device like it might come back to life if she looked at it long enough.
Her hands were still.
No longer shaking.
Just... empty.
Silas stepped closer, slow and careful, like approaching something fragile.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
Athena nodded once.
Then shook her head.
"I don't know," she admitted.
She let out a breath that felt like it had been trapped in her lungs for years.
"I thought I would feel worse."
Silas didn't interrupt.
"I thought I would feel guilty," she continued. "Or sad. Or like I was betraying something."
Her eyes lifted to his.
"I don't."
The realization seemed to surprise her as much as it did him.
"I feel like I just cut the last tie to my old life," she whispered.
She looked down at her hands.
"And I'm not trying to grab it back."
Silas watched her carefully.
Athena swallowed hard.
"I don't miss him."
The words came out quiet.
Honest.
"I don't miss our house. I don't miss the routine. I don't miss the way I felt every day trying to be... acceptable."
Her voice softened.
"I don't think I ever loved him the way I thought I did."
Silas stepped closer, but still didn't touch her.
Athena looked up at him.
"I think I loved the idea of being wanted," she said. "Not the person I was with."
Silence settled between them.
But it wasn't heavy.
It was clear.
Like fog lifting from a valley and revealing the ground beneath.
Athena exhaled slowly.
"I don't belong there anymore."
And for the first time since she arrived here...
She didn't feel torn between two worlds.