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“But why?” Is that Serena or Annie?

“Like I know!” King says

Someone curses under their breath “He’s stable”

Tank? I think it’s Tank

“But when he’s fully awake, we need to find out why he needs medicine like this every day The injection alone looks pretty heavy”

I laugh “’Cause I’ on a jet plane!”

“Is he high?” Junior asks

“No opiates in his syste pricksas it even been? “I think he’s just being Maksim

I offer a thumbs up

“He’s not really dying, though, right?” Jenna asks

“I’onna live forever!” I shout

“Son of a bitch I’o I’ll stay”

“Nah” Rustling sounds, then the scrape of a chair getting pulled across the wood floor fills the air “I’ll stay You guys had plans Go” Silence and then “Jenna, you too; he doesn’t need you right now”

“Are you sure?” Her voice sounds more innocent

I store that away for another time and close my eyes

“I got this,” King says again “Plus, he’s probably going to be out for a while”

“Okay,” Jenna says

Shuffling occurs

I go in and out for a while—who kno long?

When I finally open le to sit up then have strong hands helpstaring me down by himself

And I know I have no choice

If there was anyone to tell, it would be him

But I need to settle for zero details

It would be best if he thought I was crazy

So, I go with the story Nikolai told me