Picture Perfect Memories

DAY THREE: Lillian's POV

It had been two days since Samone was released from the hospital, and in that short time, he had already decided to move in with his best friend. Two days. Forty-eight hours — and suddenly everything I thought we were building felt like it was slipping away again.

The decision hadn't come quietly. It was a spectacle: his mother begging him to come home , Samone pushing back with that sharp edge of independence he always carried, Tj trying to hold the middle ground while I stood off to the side. It was chaos—like watching a circus, loud and spinning, but I couldn't bring myself to step in.

Because the truth was, I was really there. Not in the way I wanted to be. My body stood in that room, but my heart had already started to drift, carried off by fear and grief. I was feeling like I was losing him again — this time not to illness, but to something harder to fight: distance, choices, and needs that didn't include me.

And yet, I couldn't be angry. I love him too much for that. If this was what kept him safe, if this was what made him feel like he could breathe again, then I would stand behind it. I want him happy, I want him alive. Even if it meant he was happy without me. That thought cracked something open in my chest, jagged and raw, but I forced myself to hold it together for him.

I was tumbling in that storm of thoughts when Tj's voice cut through like an alarm going off through my entire being.

"Lillian!!!"

I blinked, pulled back into the room like surfacing from underwater. Mt had turned toward him, though I already knew what he wanted before he even said it.

"Please help out here," he pleaded, his eyes wide, his voice tight. I looked at him with a blank expression, no light in my eyes. I can't give anyone that right now. My throat burned as tears pressed hard behind my eyes. I swallowed, and the words barely made it past the knot there.

"Do what you think is best for yourself. Do what you need to do.

And then my gaze found Samone's. God, he's beautiful. Even at that moment, even with the distance between us, he takes my breath away. His face, pale but strong, stirred a memory sp vivid it felt like it cut into me — lying beside him in the hospital bed when the machines still whispered his heartbeat for him. I remembered how he had laughed softly then, voice rough but playful, telling me that it was okay. I burnt some of the muffins I had made one summer's night. That laugh wrapped in a blanket of promise, promise of forever.

Now..that promise felt broken. A hundred things I wanted to say flooded me all at once. Don't go. You're my other half. We'll work through this together. Please just stay. But the words tangled, heavy, unspeakable. I couldn't burden him with them. Not when his world was already fragile enough.

The silence that followed was suffocating. No one spoke. No one moved. The only sound was the pounding of my own heartbeat in my chest. I had shocked them — I could see it in their faces. Tj stared at me like he didn't recognize me. His mother's mouth hung open, as if I'd said the unthinkable. Even Samone's eyes softened, flickering with something I couldn't name.

I forced a shrug, though it felt like my shoulders carried the weight of the sky. "Whatever you decide, I'll support it. Just..make sure it's for you and not for anyone else. I'll always be around when you need me. Don't be afraid to call when you're ready." I wanted to say more. I wanted to beg him to let me in, not to push me away, to let me fight alongside him. But instead, I turned toward the door. My legs felt heavy every step a battle, but I made myself move. Before I crossed the threshold, I let myself look back at him one last time. Our eyes met. He saw me—really saw me — and I knew he caught the tears streaking down my face. I didn't wipe them away. I want him to remember them, to remember everything he has forgotten. I want to remember me, and now I'm doing this for him.

And then I walked out, started playing our playlist and started running on the running route I normally take to get away from something I didn't even ask for...