I know I'm supposed to be here to heal, but I don't use Arete for that anymore. Private rooms. Good food. Enough willing distractions to keep the nights from getting too loud in my head. It’s like a vacation, and it works—most days. As long as I don't think about the past. As long as I don't think about my wife, my son, the fire. Then Isaac shows up. He should've been easy. Hot, complicated past. No expectations. Except he looks at me like he knows the guilt I'm hiding, and that's the problem... moreI know I'm supposed to be here to heal, but I don't use Arete for that anymore. Private rooms. Good food. Enough willing distractions to keep the nights from getting too loud in my head. It’s like a vacation, and it works—most days. As long as I don't think about the past. As long as I don't think about my wife, my son, the fire. Then Isaac shows up. He should've been easy. Hot, complicated past. No expectations. Except he looks at me like he knows the guilt I'm hiding, and that's the problem. I don't deserve something real. Not after what I did. But the closer he gets, the less I have things under control. The version of myself I've been pretending to be for three years starts unravelling. That should be enough to stop me. It isn't. less
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