He turned back to Jay, reaching out to gently cup the side of his face.
“Don’t cry, little brother. I’ll meet you at the pond, okay? We can catch frogs together, like old times.”
“Sebastian—”
I think both Jay and I figured out what he was going to do in the same instance.
But it didn’t matter.
Neither of us was fast enough.
There was anotherbang…
And anotherthud…
And this time, Jay was the one screaming.
Iknew I was screaming, but I could barely hear myself, and I couldn’t seem to stop.
Before I knew what I was doing, I was kneeling by Sebastian’s corpse, but the sight of him was too much for me to bear.
Milo rushed to my side, slapping his hands over my eyes before my mind could make sense of what I was seeing, and he pulled me back out of the room, whispering quiet words I could barely understand in my ear.
“Shh, shhh. Let’s go downstairs. He wouldn’t want you to see him like this…”
Then why had he done it!?
I would have helped him!
We both would have!
These thoughts crashed through my mind, but I was unable to vocalize any of them. Instead, I allowed Milo to guide me down the stairs and into the living room, where he sat me down on the couch and kissed me on the head.
“Stay here, I’m going to grab us some Neuro-van… We both… We both needit right now.”
I nodded listlessly as he scurried away, my mind racing and running in circles, replaying the events of the night over and over again.
He’d saved us.
He’d killed Luke… only to… only to…
‘Will you meet me at the pond, after you die?’
My hands tightened into fists on my knees, and I glanced down, somehow surprised to find that I was still clutching the NeuroExtractor he’d given me before he’d ended his life.
‘Saved this too. Watch them for me? I kept them just for you.’
Had he trapped some of his memories in here?
Why did he want me to see them?
My skull felt like it was full of cotton, and the world around me had this strange quality to it, like the air was somehow thicker than water.
Milo reappeared, and he handed me a small white pill and a glass of water.
I stared at him, wondering why everything felt like it was moving in slow motion.
“Shock. We’re both in shock,” Milo said, looking completely stricken and petrified.
