Chapter 93- A lead

Zack woke to the soft vibration of a purr against his leg. His mind was slow to register the sound, sluggish under the weight of exhaustion, but the moment he felt the warmth pressing against him, a breath slipped past his lips. Pixel.

His fingers moved without thought, scratching behind the cat's ears, and for a moment, the rhythmic purring soothed the frayed edges of his mind. The past few hours had been a blur—no sleep, just caffeine and sheer willpower keeping him upright. His friends had insisted he take a break, if only for an hour, and he had caved, knowing his body was moments away from shutting down on its own.

But rest hadn't come easy. And even now, as he lay in the dim silence, his body refusing to move, he felt the ache of something deeper than fatigue.

It was the absence. The hollow, gaping wound that existed because she wasn't here.

Nia.