Itra brutally carried out her pain therapy, leaving my shoulders with throbbing red marks lasting even as I returned home. Still, I couldn’t revive my old energy. Any motivation I found quickly slipped away from me and out into the chilly air.

At this point, I was being a burden on Itra. Even so, she still did her best to help me out. Having her as a tutor puts me on top of things, but I’ve been slacking for a while. With the rate at which I was going, I might not reach the deadline for the story contest.

When I returned home, I immediately opened up my laptop in my room. I still hadn’t gotten through the point of the story where the characters interacted with each other. For half an hour, I stared at the words, hoping more would continue forwards. As expected, such a miracle did not happen.

I really couldn’t do anything–no wait, Itra told me thinking like that would get me nowhere. I put those thoughts to the side, focusing only on the story I was writing. Octavia and Killean had a relationship that needed to be shown. But, didn’t I already show that with their interactions already?

If I already completed that piece, I could just press forward and move on!

As my doubt gave way, my head flooded with the clogged river of ideas. I rushed to my laptop and opened it up to my story.

Now Lilis was gone too, just like Leonas. Marius went on a rampage, and he hurt her. I was all alone now. Lilis told me we were family, but it’s all gone.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

After typing up the first few sentences that came to me, I stared at it for a while. There seemed to be something wrong with it, for one, it didn’t contain Octavia. I felt like I should add a little more to it, just to make things a little more clear…

I’ll consult Itra about it later.

As I drifted into sleep, Octavia’s voice disrupted my drowning thoughts.

“K-Killean?” she whispered, sniffling, “Can I sleep here tonight?”

I nearly yelled at her to go away, but I recalled Lilis. She wanted me to be nicer to Octavia, but why did I refuse? Octavia sobbed beside my bed as I kept my back to her. Back when we lost Leonas, didn’t I do something similar? Lilis accepted me without hesitation, couldn’t I spare something like that to Octavia?

“...Fine,” I responded, right when Octavia started to shuffle, “you can sleep here, but just for tonight, okay?”

Instead of instantly cheering up, Octavia just continued to sob. She climbed into the bed, letting herself cry freely. Despite my bed getting more cramped than usual, I felt just a little bit more at ease. I let my tears flow, knowing that Octavia was doing the same.

I smacked that last period with a little more ferocity than needed. Thinking about laying in that dark space as Killean with Octavia by my side almost brought tears to my own eyes. Ending that scene lifted a weight from my shoulders, as the scene I carried in my head left onto the page.

“I really hope I’m not missing anything with this,” I fretted.

I closed my laptop, excited to share my next work with Itra. She’d be delighted to hear that I found energy