Page 19 (1/2)

More went on there, but the last time I asked Maks about it, he shut down and paled like he’d seen too much and didn’t want to scar me for life

Apparently, his dad liked to torture people with anier for God knohat

Maks never spoke of it again, but he suddenly hated Tigger and anything tiger-striped

“Yup,” Maks answered and made himself comfortable on my bed

“You said the floor” I joined him and lay back It was so easy with hi with hi us, no parents getting angry and telling us we didn’t knohat love was

Why did that dream suddenly seem impossible?

Maksim was pale as he tilted the bottle back We didn’t speak I basically just watched him drink and emotionally self-destruct until the bottle was half empty, and he nodded off

I grabbed it fro his heavy legs and pulling the covers over his body

“Ihis eyes “You think you can feel people after you die?”

I froze, watching his innocent peaceful face “What do you mean?”

“I hope so,” he grumbled “I hope you can feel me even after darkness falls…one last time—so I can hold your hand”

“Maks, you’re just drunk; you’re not dying” I lay down next to him “Try to sleep”

He held out his hand and whispered, “Just in case” A solitary tear slid down his cheek onto the pillow

Chapter Seven

“There cos; the most capacious measure is filled at last, and this brief condescension to my evil finally destroyed the balance of my soul” —Robert Louis Stevenson

Maksim

I see her

I recognize her as mine

I touch her, and it’s so familiar I want to cry

But soreat would it be if the very cure is what causes the sickness at the risk of my mental health?

I fucking hate being sick