Days We Can't Reclaim

Philosophy. Casual meetings. Pretense.
Sam enjoys each of these things more than one might suspect.
However, he dislikes taking responsibility for the slowly emerging consequences of mistakes he was bound to make when, due to his obsessive desire to be adored, he lost his true self to blindness. He allowed the facade to completely engulf him and overshadow the remnants of reason that still made themselves known, perhaps guiding his constantly pressing thoughts onto a path conducive to deceit and distortion of reality.
The temporary stay with his relatively conservative aunt doesn't worry him in the slightest. He knows perfectly well to lower his expectations in case he gets disappointed later. And that will surely happen.
After all, nothing lasts forever.
And indeed - even this artificial idyll must eventually face a crisis in the form of a phone call from the past. Sam never imagined that everything would start falling apart at such an inconspicuous moment, just like a chain reaction set off by a falling domino.
And that's not the end, because behind the slowly fading facade of pretense, unimaginably serious consequences will lurk.

Story also available in polish.