The Year I Stopped Being His novel Chapter 205

"How is she doing?"

Garrison fell silent for a moment. He stared down at her devastatingly pale face, watching the faint flutter of her eyelashes and the slight glisten on her lips where he had just dabbed the water.

"She's fine. It's just low blood sugar, likely from not eating for far too long. She needs absolute rest."

Josh nodded.

He took a step back, his hand slipping off the doorknob.

"Good to hear."

With that, he slowly pulled the door shut. The strip of warm light grew narrower and narrower until it clicked shut, plunging everything back into darkness.

*

Sloane was still lost in a tender, heartbreaking dream.

Her mother was wearing that same cream-colored cardigan.

It wasn't just some hazy illusion; she felt incredibly real. Her soft hair rested over her shoulders, fine lines framed her eyes, and the curve of her smile was exactly as Sloane remembered it.

Sloane rested her head in her mother's lap, just like she used to do as a little girl. Her mother stroked her hair, the warmth of her fingertips seeping through the strands, soothing her completely. Neither of them said a word. In the distance, a faint glow lingered on the horizon—like a beautiful sunset, or perhaps the breaking dawn.

"Sloane," her mother spoke softly.

Sloane looked up. Her mother was gazing down at her, her eyes shining with that familiar, endless warmth. But there was something else there, an unspoken emotion—like a quiet farewell.

"Mom has to go now."

Sloane's heart seized painfully in her chest. She sat up abruptly, grabbing her mother's hand with the same raw panic she had felt when she was ten years old.

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