As she lay, silent, hugging her knees to her chest, she shut her tearful eyes against the pain.
But, try as she might, she couldn't escape the ache deep inside of her.
She had felt something fade inside her, but she couldn't make sense of it until she saw her best friend. She didn't know what had happened to him, didn't care, at this point. She was so scared.
Upon seeing the vacancy in his eyes, the puppet-like properties of his body, she realised what that hole inside her was. That place where Stevonnie had been was gone — that warm, happy, loving place had simply disappeared, and along with that, she'd lost Steven too.
Beautiful, funny, sweet Steven. Her best friend. And them. Gone.
She was still in denial, still coming to terms, but that didn't make it any less agonising. Dimly she registered that she was desperate for any sort of external pain, a bruise, a scratch, something to focus on, to escape that dreadful acid feeling in her chest.
But nothing came. When she found the strength to sit up, she was met with a wall of empty silence.