I laugh harder. “Uncle Ruslan is younger than you.”
He scoffs. “He was born old. Do you think the way he talks now is because of his age? No, he always talked like that.”
He kisses my head. “Now stay happy like this. If you think forgiving Matleon easily will be unfair to you, then we can tie him to your treehouse tree and beat him black and blue.”
I giggle and nod.
“Good night.”
“Good night, Kroshka.”
After he leaves, I start thinking. There’s so much mess in my head. If possible, I’d like to step outside so I could sort it all out.
My phone rings on the side table. I pick it up and see Matleon’s name on the screen. I answer.
A tired voice comes from the other end.
“Angel.”
And in that single word, I feel I already know the answers to all my questions.
“Were you sleeping?” he asks.
“No.”
“Am I allowed to call you?”
“I think so,” I say after a pause. “Why aren’t you sleeping?”
He chuckles. “I have no one to hold.”
My pulse picks up. “How were you sleeping a month ago?”
“You can’t ask a heroin addict how he was living before he started taking it three weeks ago.”
I turn onto my side, put the phone on speaker, and place it on the pillow beside my cheek. “But you’re not a heroin addict.”
“I’m worse than that,” he mutters in a low, deep voice. “The thing I’m addicted to is only one in the entire universe. I can’t replace it with another like a heroin addict. And the withdrawal symptoms are far worse—no sleep, no peace, a constant ache in the chest, food loses its taste, the sun loses its warmth. And unlike heroin addiction, they don’t start fading after a few days. You know why, Angel?”
“No,” I whisper.
“Because the drug takes a part of the addict.You took everything from me,” he murmurs, his thick baritone raw, vibrating through the phone.
“Will you hate me if I decide to never come back to you?”
A long silence falls.
“No… but I don’t know how I’ll live.” His voice comes in a tired whisper.
My heart aches—for him, for myself,for us.
“Why don’t you try to sleep now?” I speak in a low, calm voice.
“Hmm.” That’s all he says before going silent. I close my eyes as well.
chapter 33
Matleon
