❛ i don’t think i’ve ever seen you smile. ❜
DO YOU EVEN REMEMBER THE LAST TIME YOU SMILED AND MEANT IT? the pitter - patter of rain on the roof and against your window, the sound of georgie’s laughter as the two of you bonded over making the sailboat. you had been happy then, when georgie was alive and all smiles and full of that childish curiosity. it’s the last fond memory you have of him, one tainted with the aftermath of that day.
you had watched him let the boat take sail and she and georgie be swept off down the flooded streets and something had told you that very well could be the last time you saw him, and that something had been right.
what’s left in the wake is a home that you would believe is haunted by ghosts. they wear the faces of your parents, but they’re cold and unforgiving and hardly ever even look at you. do they blame you? you blame you. the guilt sits quietly, festering, keeping you up at night. YOU SHOULD’VE BEEN THERE. it should’ve been you. . .
WHAT DO YOU EVEN HAVE TO SMILE ABOUT? well, the answer seems easy enough when @l1terae is looking at you the way he is. a genuine concern. there are bigger problems, problems that you’ve dragged your friends into, and you really can’t let one of them, or any of them, worry about you on top of it. so, you smile and let out a laugh that’s more of a breath. “wh - what? i - i do sm - sm - smile.”

















