The air smelled like hope. Like rain. Like I could make it through the day. The war felt far away, for the moment. Everything felt far away. The pain, the fear, the heaviness in my chest as I thought about Darren, about how much he had on his shoulders, about how little I could do to help him. I watched Lyle pick his way along the path, pausing every now and then to make sure I could keep up, plucking a flower and holding it out for me. He did it all with a grin, with a shrug, like it was nothing, like I was everything.“Here,” he said. “Since my brother’s slacking off, I’ll cover this, too.” The joke felt empty, though he tried to make it light. “Speaking of slackers,” he said, eyeing me, gauging my reaction, not wanting to push too far, not wanting to bring it all back when he was trying to help me forget. “How is Ren holding up?”I thought of Darren, how thin his voice sounded when I talked to him last night. How exhausted he must be. How brave he was, how strong, how lost without
Last Updated : 2025-05-20 Read more