The next morning. My birthday.

I woke up tranquil that day, with not an ounce of grogginess. I walked over to my living room, seeing Nix and two of his friends in my house--and Nix was inspecting my belongings.

My eyes twitched.

Reflexively, I bellowed, “Get out!” a little frustrated that Nix had barged into my house.

The two friends of Nix scurried off, while Nix just kept on messing with my stuff.

“Did you not hear me?” I said quietly, preparing to seethe.

“I just wanted to say ‘happy birthday,’” Nix said, “Is that so bad?”

I stuttered, “Well, no…”

I saw Nix shake something in his hand, cigarettes. Hre must have found them inside my house.

Pulling his eyelid down and laughing at me, he ran outside of my house with the carton of maryseed cigs still in his hand.

Bastard.

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It was too early in the day to get angry. A little resigned, I sat down at my table, where I had left Adrian’s basket. Right beside it was a little note of appreciation.

I flipped the letter over.

It read: “Nix.”

I scoffed, opening it up. I read the first line, feeling a little uncomfortable. It said as such:

“Hey, old man,” it began, with me furrowing my brows as I read it--didn’t I tell him I wasn’t old? “I wanted to thank you. It’s been nice having someone who tries to understand my thoughts,” of course I didn’t, Nix was obviously quite mature for his age, “I wanted you to understand that I appreciated that.”

I put the letter away, a little unsure of what to think.

“I don’t really understand what he’s trying to say,” I told myself, “But I'll just take it to mean that Nix enjoys my company,” I laughed, “The feeling isn’t mutual,” I joked to myself.

I looked at my table, seeing two different tokens of appreciation for my presence.

Maybe… I was getting used to this life. Just a year ago, everything seemed so different. I touched my eye, feeling it to be a little wet.

Was this all it took for me to get emotional?

Feeling a little disturbed by my intense emotions, I looked for my maryseed cigarettes. Perhaps they would calm me.

I looked around, unable to find them.

I put a hand on my forehead, remembering “That’s right,” I chuckled, “Nix took them,” I reveled in my own stupidity.

For the first time in years, I didn’t have an escape from my emotions. And… it didn’t feel so bad.