Chapter 99

GABE - Ten years ago

It was just after the New Year and I was laying in my room, staring at the ceiling, lost in thoughts I couldn’t escape. Every time I closed my eyes, all I saw was Mila–her smile, the way her eyes lit up when she was excited, and the way she looked at me when she thought I was looking. Then the memory was darkened by the way she looked at me that day I broke up with her at school. The memory played on a loop in my head until it was impossible to think of anything else.

We had just returned from the Mount Frita ski resort, a tradition I once enjoyed but now resented. Every year, the Moras joined us, and this year, I played my part–the perfect son, the ideal mate, the mask firmly in place. It was unbearable. The laughter, the family outings, the forced conversations, the constant pressure to look content when all I wanted to do was scream. I didn’t want to be there.

A constant ache settled in my chest, a reminder of what I lost. I kept telling myself that ending thing