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[I sincerely hope this doesn't trigger anyone. There's a bit of swearing, idk if that was in any other chapters, as well as some sensitive topics.]


   There are times when you can pinpoint the exact moment where one's heart shatters. This was that moment for Sean. He could feel the darkness surrounding him as the world slowly lost its color. His knees felt weak and his fingers felt numb. Tears continued to fall uncontrollably. Mark simply remained silent, unable to look in his direction.

   Sean stumbled out of the room, his vision blurred by tears. His feet carried him down the hallway, towards the stairs, yet he felt as though he was wandering aimlessly. He carelessly hurried down the stairs, hardly taking a few steps before tripping and stumbling down a whole flight of stairs. He crawled into a corner on the landing leading to the 2nd floor. His body curled into a ball as he sobbed into his knees.

   While Mark's response was expected, Sean couldn't help but be heartbroken. He had high hopes despite knowing that it would never happen. Even after bracing for the worst, why did his heart still ache so much?

   "I'm such an idiot," he muttered to himself between sobs. His head was pounding and his eyes burned from all the tears. "Now Mark's going to hate me forever. Why am I so fucking stupid?"

   These words repeated in his head as he urged himself to head back to his hotel room. While his body felt weak, he managed to reach his room without collapsing.

   Sean's bag was sitting on the bed, opened up to display his clothes and a few travel sized health products. Before he had left, he had been in the middle of packing to leave in the morning.

   "Why wait to leave tomorrow when I can just leave right now?" Sean's hoarse voice was quiet in the empty room. He reached into his bag and pulled out a travel bottle of aspirin. With a click, the lid popped off and he poured what remained of the contents into his mouth. His hands shook as he grabbed at every last pill that fell out.

   'I deserve this' he thought to himself before accepting the darkness.


   Mark's phone vibrated with a message right as he flicked off the lights in his room. He glanced over at his glowing phone on the nightstand. From where he stood, he couldn't see the sender, yet he was already mentally and emotionally drained and he didn't want to face any further interactions with anyone. With that, he simply flipped his phone over and crawled into bed.

   While struggling to fall asleep, Mark stared up at the white ceiling and replayed the events from earlier. The image of Sean sobbing had been imprinted into his brain. He was uneasy with worry for his friend.

   In the back of his mind, the notification on his phone was pestering him. What if it was Sean? What if he was hurt? With his heart racing in fear, Mark abruptly sat up, reaching for his phone.

    'Jack:

        - Sorry for being such an embarrassment... Just forget what happened, forget about me. '

    Right as Mark finished reading the text, he heard sirens outside of the hotel. Flashing red lights shining from outside the window lit up the dark room. In a panic, he stumbled out of bed to peek out of the window.

   Outside, an ambulance pulled up and a couple of paramedics rushed into the hotel lobby with a gurney. Within a minute, they hurried back out, returning with a body. It was a man on the gurney, with a paramedic pumping air for him to breathe. What had caught Mark's eye the most was a green tuft of hair peeking above the tubes entwining the man.

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