Page 128 of Bitter Truths

“Hals?” Max says softly.

“Yeah?” I ask, looking up at my brother. He’s sober again, which is good, but I can’t help wondering for how long. We can’t exist this way, none of us, but maybe he’s stronger than me. Maybe.

“You want to go see a movie?”

“Huh? No,” I say dumbly.

I don’t want to do anything, nothing. Can’t he see that? Can’t they see? Fuck.

“Oh, um, how about the mall? Maybe you need some art supplies?”

“No, Max,” I whisper, sitting down on the bed and bowing my head.

“You can’t just sit here,” he says in a rough tone.

“Can’t I?” I mutter, refusing to look at him when he rounds the bed and stands over me.

“No. You can’t. Do something. Anything, but not this.”

“Max—”

“No, Hals, you want Griffin, then go fight for him,” he says passionately, stepping into my vision.

“But—”

“Enough! Do you love him?”

“Of course,” I say softly.

“Then fight for him.”

“How?” I ask, looking into his shining eyes with a pulse in my heart.

“I don’t know, but you’ll figure it out,” he says quietly before he walks away.

Once he’s gone, I collapse against the bed with a sigh. How?

∞∞∞

GRIFFIN

It’s the end of the semester, and I just took my last final. I’m exhausted because I haven’t slept in weeks beyond a cat nap here or there. When I close my eyes, I see Halsey. When I’m awake, I stare into nothing because she’s there.

I’m consumed, but every time I pick up the phone to call her, I put it back down because I remember her final fuck you. She’s reached out to me several times with pretty pleas for forgiveness, and maybe I’m an asshole, but I don’t have it in me.

How many times can you live through hell before you have nothing left to give?

I paid my dues to the crazy. I may not know how to breathe without her, but I can live with it. After all, I’ve spent years doing just that.

It’s all so fucked up, and my head spins from the lies. Once again, I don’t even know if this was her intent all along.

I crave the Halsey who looked at me with shining eyes but was it an illusion—a fucking scam? Did she fuck me because she loved me or because she hated me?

Fuck me.

Rubbing my tired eyes, I exit my vehicle and shuffle to the door only to stop up short when I find Halsey standing on the stoop.

She raises her eyes to mine, but they’re ringed with darkness and missing the shine I crave. My heart hurts at the sight, but I push it aside because it’s already a fucking aching mass of pulp.

---