Bound By Bellarmine

here, sitting on the stone bench opposite, holdin

oticed his

numb. I pushed myself up, ankles wobbling, try

cry,' he said, 'you don't dese

top

match his age. Ne

under his sleeves, but he looked at me

a ste

the edge of t

down

ammed into

t first, bu

cross my left han

welled

here, star

dn't

st wa

*

ldn't

ide the bed and lay flat

the memory had cla

been

asn't her anymore. I hadn'

palm, faint but still there, like something

ock re

t into slippers, and

oor wa

n, opened the fridge,

into a gla

a second one and

n the microwave a

illed the

he oven door gleamed, sp

sharper, nothing like the girl who bled

lt t

d school wasn't ha

membering tha

rowave

the gla

bedroom cast enough light to blur the

out of shadow, soft an

s on the table in

ake. Drink some m

blanket sliding to her lap. She took

,' she sai

ine in a f

ched for her empty glass

it,' she off

't trust other peopl

over without m

the sofa, kn

r face. Tight mouth

d what that

ldn't have made

oice. 'Elettra, yo

a towel and walked

e ever called

iser,

ed the

mach d

or behind me be

n't s

sn't loud, but

not

u coming home

eyes. Coun

all me at this hour again. That's one. Two, don't

red through the speak

htened arou

one who should be asleep. Cursing, t

t of your fu

n were still alive and heard that,

it, those exact spots lighting up, sh

let it

come for me first. Half the shit you've p

I shot h

comeback

ollect you for New Year

e desk. My skin felt tig

got gaps in my thesis I can't so

y. He didn't bel

qualified for you here.

oat cl

you want me home for the holiday. You

t exactly am

I heard it u

cked

e time out of my studies. I have

pau

Sleep

er on my phone before his voice cou

lightly as I pre

switched it

bed and pulled the d

and soft, the edges

t, closed my eyes, and w

did

cles around my jaw ached. I

low and flat, like it had sl

d the sleep

the drawer, t

n't m

epend on them, not

y it had r