I stood in the hallway and didn’t take the next step

Dear Delyara, Tonight I came home and stayed in the hallway longer than made sense. Bag still on my shoulder. Keys still in my hand. The house waiting. I think I just needed a moment where nothing had fully resumed yet. Once I moved, the evening would become real. The rooms, the tasks, the quiet, the tiredness. I wasn’t ready for all of it to become visible at once. So I stood there. And strangely, that pause felt more honest than movement.