6:22 AM.
Cade woke up on the couch.
Didn't remember coming here.
His cheek felt tight. He pressed it lightly.
Regret.
He sat up. Back cracked. Knuckles throbbed.
He looked at his hands.
Split skin. Blood dried in the lines.
He washed them last night.
Didn't matter.
6:31 AM.
Bathroom.
Medicine cabinet half-empty.
He wrapped the right hand first. Using his left. Slower. Clumsy.
Tape stuck to itself.
He tore it with his teeth.
Crooked wrap.
Good enough.
6:47 AM.
Lira's door opened.
Footsteps.
Pause.
Bathroom door creaked.
Lira: "What happened to your face."
He didn't turn.
Cade: "Tripped."
Silence.
Lira: "On what."
Cade: "Stairs."
Lira: "We don't have stairs."
He kept wrapping.
His fingers were shaking.
Lira: "Your knuckles."
Cade: "It's nothing."
Lira: "Both hands."
Cade: "It's nothing."
She didn't leave.
He could feel her looking at him like she was trying to memorize something.
Cade: "You're gonna be late."
Lira: "You're gonna be late for—"
She stopped.
Lira: "For what."
He didn't answer.
Because he didn't know.
7:04 AM.
Same walk.
Fifteen minutes.
Lira walked ahead. Not as far this time.
Lira: "Does it hurt."
Cade: "No."
Lira: "You're lying."
Cade: "A little."
Lira: "A little or a lot."
Cade: "A little."
Her shoulders stiffened.
She knew.
7:19 AM.
School gate.
Lira: "Bye."
Cade: "Bye."
She walked in.
Stopped.
Turned back.
Lira: "Don't pick me up today."
Cade: "Why."
Lira: "Just don't."
She left.
He didn't count this time.
7:41 AM.
Corner store.
Ash handed him an energy drink.
Ash: "You look worse."
Cade: "You said that yesterday."
Ash: "Still applies."
Cade shrugged.
Regretted it immediately.
Ash noticed.
Ash: "You ice it."
Cade: "Didn't have any."
Ash: "Frozen peas."
Cade: "Didn't have those either."
Pause.
Ash: "You eating."
Cade: "Rice."
Ash looked at him.
Didn't comment.
That was worse.
11:32 AM.
Text.
Jackals asking about you.
Cade stared.
Another one.
Scar wants your name.
Cade typed: Cade
Sent.
Three dots appeared.
He knows that. Wants the other one.
His thumb hovered.
Don't have one.
Sent.
He turned the phone face-down.
His hand was shaking again.
4:23 PM.
Lira came home.
Looked at his hands first.
Then his face.
Then the TV.
Lira: "You didn't eat."
Cade: "Not hungry."
Lira opened the fridge.
Lira: "The rice is green."
Cade: "It's fine."
Lira: "It's green."
He stood up.
Looked.
It was.
He hadn't noticed.
She threw it away.
Didn't say anything while she did.
Lira: "I'm ordering."
Cade: "I have money."
Lira: "So do I."
He didn't argue.
They ate quietly.
He let her pay.
10:47 PM.
In bed.
Hands finally steady.
Ceiling dark.
He thought about Scar.
The fuck are you.
He thought about Lira.
Don't pick me up.
He thought about the rice.
Green.
He thought about his parents.
Tried not to.
Didn't work.
3:18 AM.
Dream again.
Different angle.
His father looking at him this time.
Mouth moving.
No sound.
His mother holding Lira.
Lira crying.
Eight years old.
Standing there.
Do something.
He didn't.
He woke up.
Pillow damp.
Sweat.
Not tears.
He doesn't cry anymore.