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204. Confronting the Past...

Author: sammie
last update Last Updated: 2025-03-29 01:34:09

~Damien’s POV~

The evening was strangely quiet—the kind of silence that didn't bring peace but instead a crushing weight that pressed down on my chest.

I sat on the old wooden ladder leading up to the treehouse, my fingers gripping a worn photograph—one that had started to fade from the countless times I had traced the outlines of their faces.

My wife and my brother—both gone—both because of choices I had made.

A cold breeze swept through the woods, rustling the leaves, making the branches groan as if they, too, carried burdens too heavy to bear. I exhaled, watching my breath fog up in the cool air, my gaze fixed on the treehouse above me.

It had been ours—mine and my brother’s.

I could still hear his laughter echoing in the back of my mind, the way we'd race each other up the ladder, barely holding onto the sides, ignoring our mother’s frantic warnings from below.

"Damien! Slow down! You’ll break your neck before you even learn to be responsible!"

She used to scold, but we never
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