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I’m burning.

Oh, God, I’m burning alive!

It feels as though someone has peeled away my skin and poured boiling oil over the raw flesh beneath. Every inch of me on the left side of my body feels like it’s on fire, the agony so unbearable that I try to scream, only to realize that even my vocal cords feel they have been lit aflame. I writhe against the grass, desperate to escape the flames, but the pain follows every movement, sinking deeper and deeper until I can no longer tell where my body ends and the fire begins.

Someone is screaming.

Maybe it’s me.

Maybe it’s everyone.

I can’t tell anymore.

All I know is that it hurts.

God, it hurts so fucking much.

“Max.”

Milo’s voice reaches me through the chaos, faint and broken, but unmistakably his.

“Max,” he calls again, his fingers twitching weakly against mine now. “Hold… on. For me.”

I want to turn toward him. I want to see his face, to make sure he’s okay, but my body refuses to cooperate. Even breathing feels impossible, each shallow gasp sending another jolt of agony tearing through me.

Still, I somehow find the strength to move my fingers, threading them through his and holding on with everything I have left.

I’m trying, Milo.

God, I’m trying.

But it hurts too much.

All of it hurts too much.

Everything begins to fade, the sounds around me growing distant as darkness creeps into the edges of my vision. I fight against it, terrified of what will happen if I let go.

Milo’s still holding my hand, and I promised him I’d never let go.

So I have to hold on. I have to hold on. For him.

But the darkness doesn’t care about promises.

It swallows the screams first.

Then the pain.

And finally, there’s nothing left.

Nothing but silence.

And darkness.

Chapter 39

Saturday

Everywhere I look, my classmates cheerfully reminisce about the good old days as though those years were the best of their lives.