Page 74 of Until the Ribbon Breaks

“I want to show you that it can.” I take my hand off her wrist and slip it behind her neck, pulling her back to me. “You said it yourself; you don’t want to be this way anymore. So, if you’re so tired of it all, then try to do something about it.”

Her hand grips mine tighter, and I strengthen my hold as well.

“Promise me, Harlow. Promise me you’ll try.”

HARLOW

“You memorized my number, right?” Wes asks Max because we aren’t allowed to share that stuff with each other. She gives him a tearful nod, and he tells her, “Call me when you get out of here.”

“I will.”

He gives her a hug as she continues to cry, and when she steps aside, Wes turns to me, and I smile. He’s going home, and I’m happy for him, but I’m jealous as well.

His eyes are coated in pity as he tilts his head and holds out his arms for me to step into.

Sadness is a very real thing, and it expands painfully in my chest as I hug my friend. His leaving only reminds me how far away I am from where I need to be to get out of here.

“I’m going to miss you,” I tell him as I pull back. “But I’m not going to miss your ugly blue hair.”

“Hey now!” He laughs. “It isn’t that bad.”

“It’s pretty damn bad, man,” Sebastian says before the two of them clap hands and go in for a quick hug. “You take care.”

“Yeah, you too,” he responds, eyeing Sebastian’s new cast. “Be good to that damn hand.”

“Wes, you ready?” Greg calls from the doorway of the rec room.

“Yeah.” He turns back to the three of us and smiles. “Hurry and get out of here so we can hang out in the real world.”

We all nod and say one last goodbye, but truth is, we won’t see him again. That isn’t how this works. We become tight while locked away, but once free, we’re nothing more than a memory for each other.

“Good luck,” Max calls out before Greg takes Wes through the secured doors that lead to freedom.

When Max looks at me, her face is covered in tears, and I slip my arm around her. Wes was her best friend in here, but no matter how happy you are to see someone get better, when you see them leave, it causes an upheaval of emotions. In a way, it makes the ones being left behind feel more trapped.

“Let’s go watch,” she blubbers before drawing back and rushing to the windows that look over the front parking lot. She motions me to join. “Come on.”

I shake my head, and she turns to wait for Wes to leave the grounds as I drag myself over to the wall and lean against it.

Sebastian follows me. “You okay?”

“I bet you’ll be next,” I murmur.

When he first got here, I couldn’t wait for him to be gone, but now, the thought of him leaving makes me sad.

“You anxious to get rid of me?”

I slide down the wall until I’m sitting on the floor.

He sits next to me. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t want to be all alone in here.”

The corners of his lips lift into a sly grin.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I don’t think you despise me anymore, Cricket,” he teases.

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