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PapaI can’t do this anymore It hurts too much Please take this pain away

Even in ht--lanced out my bedroom , astonished to see that it was dark The entire day had passed me by in my heartache-induced daze

"Hello?" I heard a familiar voice call into the apartment Helena

I’d used all the tissues in my room, so I bolted out the door and toward the bathrooress

"Oh Janjica!" she said, taking oing to do with you?"

Instead of answering, I sniffed and hiccupped, edy that linked the two of us, and how fitting it was that she was here right now Helena pushed the hair from my face back behindus, and I knew then that it was Alex who had called her

"Don’t bemy mind--as usual "She’s worried about you And so aain Helena pulled , and I pressed ht, Helena I can’t"

She knehat I was talking about without even having to ask "You never will…and neither will I," she said, switching to Bosnian "That night changed us all forever"

She gave e toward my bedroom As soon as we’d entered, Alex handed me a fresh box of tissues and then shut the door behind us

Helena sank down on the bed beside ave the bare roo the wall In mere hours, my life had been condensed into those boxes and I was ready to move on

"Tell o "There’s a boy…and…" My voice tre away "He’s a man, actually, but…"

Helena placed an ar my face carefully "Go on, Janja Tell lanced at her out of the corner ofon her…and Brock

"Last night I, uh…I told him I loved him"

She nodded "And it’s the truth? Do you love hiain and the air hissed fros I doubled over "Yes I love him I love him so much So htened, pulling ize for And we are not meant to love only one person in our lives You loved Braco And now you love this man, too That’s not a betrayal"

My pitiful sobs started up again, drowning out her noble speech "He’ll die, Helena He’ll die, just like the others Like Papa Like Brock"

She inhaled sharply and reached to push ht now You have the right to love ayourself because you lived and Braco didn’t"