ofisolaticnâ:
     â it seems i am.â had he? didnât even touch his mind that he had. maybe it was something he did unconsciously. one of those habits you simply couldnât help. something told henrik he wouldnât be able to change it even if he tried. ( there was no part of his mind that spoke MAYBE SHE WAS WRONG, he believed her and didnât think twice about it ). â it keeps things interesting.â he responded, a flare of quirk to his tone ( he was hoping to get a laugh out of her, or even an eye roll (though he wouldnât see it) a reaction that would make her think of all the pain she was clearly in, even for a moment ). âiâve been told i have sadist tendencies,â not an actual LIE but a joke remaining, still aiming to make her world a little better even if only for a small second. âwhy do you think that?â nothing disputing, nothing that was fighting words, but rather a genuine question. why did she think that? so many reasons for one to be self loathing, and yet henrik struggled to think of what could possibly bring a girl as bold as olivia so down.
     â you could start with it, yeah. not so sure iâm totally sold on it though.â he would listen, he would give his take, and he would tell her things he knew as fact. that perhaps yes, perhaps sheâd done something terrible. perhaps that terrible thing was grueling, beyond the crossed line. but henrik remained calm in the sense that as terrible as what she could have perhaps done, doing terrible actions didnât make one a terrible person. it was something he knew olivia was simply not. âis there a reason it matters now?â he found himself asking, remaining without judgment. âand i hate to tell you⊠but a terrible person. the real kind. they wouldnât care about being one. so right there, itâs a none-terrible person trait you have there.â he considered her words, lins thinning into a line and then a quiet. âno. i donât think you are. i thinkâŠ.i think you sort of sound like you could use a hug.â simplistic, but important all the same. âand i think, iâm sorry that i canât be there to give you one.âÂ
   â guess some things really never change. â that should be a comforting thought, but it overwhelms her just as everything else is.  â i didnât know you were a sex hotline now. â itâs a joke, a surprisingly easy one ; probably because she makes it in the aid of deflection. shirking off the comfort of resting in the â itâs what iâve been taught â blanket for probably the last time in her life. ( it used to be warm, it probably still would be if she pulled it tight enough around herself, but she doesnât like how it feels anymore. )  â you have a good heart. â she tells him, because she believes it. but she also believes it clouds her judgement. ( really, she still doesnât understand why he chooses to help lost souls. she might be lost, but that doesnât mean she didnât think her path was the best when she set down it. )  â unfortunately, i donât. â sheâs not so self-hating that she believes she never did. she just believes it was far too early to make any difference to who she is now. ( or ever again. )  â there are a few. â she could give them names ( michael, faith, even evan ).    â do you ever feel so tired of yourself? â she doesnât name them, because she doesnât want to. not yet, at least.  â like thereâs nothing you like about yourself when you look in the mirror? â even she has to admit, by his standards, all her self hatred is essentially moral by textbook. â iâve never felt that way. â she gives a deflated laugh, shoulders shrugging before she falls back onto her bed. sheâs tired, she is, and she wants to lie down.  ( she can recognise, now, that sheâs only avoid the crippling tightness in her chest because she convinced herself she was right. she can also recognise that emotional maturity blows. ) â i mean, until now. â  this is the part where everything becomes more honest, she knows.  â because there are some people i love so much. â people as in plural and love is definitely something sheâs going to have to unpack later.  â and i think theyâd pretty tired of me if they knew me too. â evan does, but theyâve always been ... jacks of the same trade. if she can possibly call what she used to do that.  â yeah, well, â as one of her hands falls to spread out over her comforter, she exhales, â i think iâd like a hug. a lot. â but this, in the middle of the night, with someone she used to lean on, makes her feel just a little better.Â












