DON'S POV
I tried to find sleep but it didn't come. I knew it wouldn't.
So I sat in the chair by the window of my chamber for a long time, one leg crossed over the other, the city darkness outside gradually thinning at its edges the way it always did in the hours before dawn decided to make its entrance. The kind of hours that belonged to no part of the day properly too late to be night, too early to be morning. Just a grey uncertain space where everything that had happened sat with you whether you invited it or not.
I reached for the cigarette case on the side table without rushing, drew one out slowly, placed it between my lips and struck the lighter once. The small flame caught immediately and I held it there for a brief second before snapping it shut, the first pull drawing slow and deep, the burn of it settling into my chest like the only warm thing in the room.
I held the smoke briefly then exhaled it ong, quiet, watching it curl and dissolve into the dim air above me.
