Chapter 20

• Left alone in the dimly lit office, Ava's surroundings seemed to mirror the gloom that had settled in her heart. The stark contrast between the vibrant chaos of her past and the bleak uncertainty of her present was a bitter pill to swallow. She could almost feel the walls closing in around her, a suffocating reminder of the choices that had led her to this precipice.
• As she grappled with the weight of her situation, the reality of what was at stake began to seep in like a creeping fog. The thought of being uprooted from Miller's High, the place where memories were woven into the very fabric of her being, was a prospect that filled her with an unshakable sense of loss. The friendships, the familiar hallways, the dreams that had taken root there – they all seemed to hang in the balance, threatened by the drastic turn of events.
• A single tear, heavy with the weight of her anguish, welled up in Ava's eye and then slipped silently down her cheek. It landed on the cold, unfeeling floor with a soft, almost imperceptible sound. But in that seemingly insignificant drop, a deluge of emotions cascaded. It was a tear that held within it the echo of dreams shattered, of hopes extinguished, and of a future that now felt uncertain and dimly lit.