Chapter 38: "A Day for Breathing"
The sun had climbed higher by the time Jasmine stood up, stretching with a tired groan.
Zariah stayed curled on the couch, watching her with wary eyes, like a wild animal waiting for a trap to spring.
But Jasmine didn't push. She just smiled—a real one this time, not the fake bright kind teachers gave when they didn't really care.
"Let's call it," Jasmine said casually, grabbing her phone from her pocket. "A no-pressure day."
Zariah frowned, confused. "What do you mean?"
Jasmine shrugged. "No pretending. No worrying about school, or homework, or... anything. Just breathing. Doing whatever feels safe. Even if that's just sitting around doing nothing."
Zariah blinked, the idea foreign and strange.
"No pressure to be 'okay'," Jasmine added. "No pressure to be anything."
It sounded stupid. Selfish. Lazy.
She didn't deserve a day off from being broken.
But still... a tiny part of her—quiet and tired—ached for it.
"Okay," Zariah whispered before she could overthink it.
Jasmine grinned, her face lighting up. "Good. First rule: no guilt allowed."
Easier said than done. But Zariah nodded again, feeling the smallest flicker of something she hadn't felt in months. It wasn't happiness. It wasn't hope.
It was just... breathing.
They spent the morning wrapped in old blankets, flipping through cartoons without paying attention, sharing awkward smiles over cereal bowls neither of them finished. Zariah didn't say much, and Jasmine didn't make her.
When Zariah's mind started to wander to dark places, Jasmine would bump her shoulder gently, distracting her with a stupid joke or some random memory about when they were little.
It didn't fix everything.
It didn't erase the hurt.
But for a few stolen hours, Zariah wasn't falling.
She was floating.
And for today, that was enough.