Page 262 of Haunt Me

Track 11:This Is How It Starts. ‘This is how it ends/ With you learning the steps to my favorite dance.’I for one wish this album never ended. Not a single skip in the whole thing. I am flabbergasted. And I have the sneaking suspicion that we have seen nothing yet. The final phrase in the song and the album:‘I would say this is how it ends, but nothing has ended/ not for us, baby./ This is the pink dawn over the treetops./ This is the first brown leaf of October/ This is the first snowflake in January./ This is how it begins.’

epilogue two

Isaiah’s Phone

Lil Bro: Hey, quick question: How do you get the crying to stop?

Isaiah: You what? James, dude, I nearly had a heart attack.

Lil Bro: Sorry.

Isaiah: Who is crying? Is it your students? Because if so, I can imagine them crying non-stop. There’s nothing you can do about it. But if it’s someone else? Could it possibly be a girl? Of course not, what am I saying?

Lil Bro: Can you concentrate for a second here, Zay?

Isaiah: Sorry, I’m just so confused. James Pan and crying just don’t go together.

Lil Bro: Well, I am. Crying. Can’t stop.

Isaiah: Wait, seriously?

Lil Bro: Extremely seriously.

Isaiah: Ok, I’m grabbing the next plane to Paris.

Lil Bro: No, don’t do that. I just need some brotherly advice.

Isaiah: Ok. In that case, I’ll need a little more info. Are you hurt in any way? Physically?

Lil Bro: There’s this girl.

Isaiah: Oh. Oh no, James. I knew when it would happen to you, it would be brutal. I’m sorry.

Lil Bro: Wait, what do you mean?

Isaiah: You lack the ability to do things by halves, little bro. I know if you ever got your head out of your ass long enough to notice a girl who actually deserved you, that you’d fall apart. At first.

Lil Bro: To say the least.

Isaiah: Wait, you’re falling apart? I just… Ok, talk to me. What happened.

Lil Bro: She… It’s bad, Zay.

Isaiah: …

Lil Bro: Are you there?

Isaiah: How bad?

Lil Bro: Remember when you and Eden—

Isaiah: Is it as bad as that?

Lil Bro: Nothing is as bad as what you and Eden went through.

Lil Bro: But yeah, it’s like that. A bit worse, if I’m honest.

Isaiah: Jesus Christ.

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