We've reached the point where I have no idea when this book is going to end cus' I have no idea of how this book will end. Smh, get ready for the ride. Most of you like long books anyway, so.
Ugh, our poor babies.
Enjoy.
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Miami, Florida. May 8th, 2024. Unedited.
Phoenix sat up with her back against the head board, staring blankly ahead into space. The curtains in her room were closed with the only source of light coming from the flat screen that played soothing static.
"I've gone crazy... haven't I?" Phoenix mumbled softly, almost incoherently.
"Almost. Not quite." Ares said from beside her, sitting right next to her, staring into space with her.
"It can get worse than this? I'm talking to a hallucination of my dead brother." She chuckled bitterly. "I'm sure you can see the anomaly in that."
"Yeah, you could end up like me." He said lowly and glanced at her. "You need help, Phoenix."
"Let's say I get a therapist, what do I tell her? That my once an angel of a brother snapped and turned murderous and killed my classmates and their siblings? Or do I tell them that Amon helped? Or do I tell them that you, Jabari – who's no where to be found by the way – and the twins also had a hand in it? Am I supposed to come clean about you all selling drugs, me damn near dying over and over again? You actually dying..." She pressed her lips firmly together as that sentence left her mouth. It never came easy to her.
"You're gone and the moment I say that out loud to someone else is the moment that I have to accept that. I don't think I'm ready to, Reese. I don't think I'm ready to accept that I'll never see you again." She whispered. "You're all I know."
Ares grabbed her hand in vain, feeling nothingness as he laced their fingers together. He longed to touch her, he yearned for the touch of his older sister. It killed him to have to watch over them knowing he wasn't coming back.
"I didn't even say goodbye." Reese said softly. "I'm sorry for that. I should've stayed, I should've made a better decision but I couldn't go out like that, I-" He stammered and scoffed. "Ironically, I didn't want me going to prison to be the end of my story... now I realized that it would've have been better than being dead. A little too late for regrets, huh?"
"I wish you would've stayed too." Phoenix mumbled, looking at him as well. Their eyes locked and tears rushed down their cheeks. It was like they were so close yet so achingly far. It was like their fingertips were teasing to touch, and the devastating reality dawned on them both that they never will. "I can't sit around and do nothing, Ares. I can't sit around and lose everyone I love, that's now how this was supposed to happen. I'm going to fight for us, all of us, the same way I fought for me and Amon before, the way I will fight for us again. James isn't going to come into my life, ruin it, and think he can get away with it."
