biophilia (n.)
bi·o·phil·ia
The love of life and all that is alive.
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My mother once told me there are three, and only three, truly defining moments in your life.
One: When you don't know.
Two: When you realize you don't know.
Three: When you know.
I've had my time with the first one. And I've had a hell of a lot of bullshit fun with the second. They say the longest period of any worthwhile thing is the period of waiting for it, and I'll bitterly vouch in that favor because of said bullshit fun second moment.
But I'll digress, since we'd be here longer than we've already been, because this story wasn't about the second. This story was about the third.
This is the third moment.
It took all of a minute for me to move.
"Angel, I keep telling you to refill the chili sauce in the morning," Maia called, coming back around. Probably. I think she was if the footsteps meant anything but I was far too busy being in crisis to tell. "I know it's a sucky job, but work with me...here."
Definitely came around then.
Maia took less time. "Oh, hell no. Hell no. What? No. Uh uh." She set her chili sauce gloves down by the counter, heading for Haru. "You—"
I snagged her arm. I turned to Haru. A year stretched between us. What did I remedy that shit with?
I settled for, "What...do you want? To eat, that is."
Haru blinked, black eyes familiar all at once. My heart pressed against my chest.
"Oh. Uh. I guess the...dumplings? Chicken."
I nodded and tilted my head for him to sit as I was snagged Maia around to the back.
"Would you calm down?" I whispered.
"I'm not giving him any dumplings. He gets the frozen ones!" she hissed.
"He can hear you! And those are from Whole Foods anyway."
"Why's he here anyway?" she asked.
"Like I know." I raked fingers through my hair. "Just make the dumplings."
Maia said loudly, "We have meat tenderizers back here!" I elbowed her hard. "What? He should know!" She sighed. "What are you gonna do?"
I pinched the space between my eyes. "I—maybe he's really just here for dumplings."
"From New Haven?"
Fair. I chewed the inside of my cheek.
"Stay here, lock up," I said, handing her the frozen dumplings that were supposed to be our dinner.
Breathe.
I returned to the counter. Haru held out the bills but I waved him off. If anything was tenser than the atmosphere, it would've had to be solid steel and nothing less.
"Forget it, it's fine. It's after hours anyway." I shoved my hands into my pocket. "You can...sit."
Haru said, "Oh. Okay." His voice clawed softly into me.
YOU ARE READING
Suicide Buddies
Teen Fiction"My mother once told me there are three, and only three, truly defining moments in your life. One: When you don't know. Two: When you realize you don't know. Three: When you know. This is about the third one." --- Angel Young is going to die. Or at...
