aidan
"fuck... off, brecks," he breathes out, voice staggering. his hands are shaking and his mind is running through the negative thoughts of his fears that he won't make it to college and he's going to fail and he's going to let everyone down and—
"look at me," the other boy answers.
he does. he can see the flames in everett's eyes, threatening to catch him on fire at any second. it settles deep into his chest.
"hold your breath and count to twenty, okay?"
he closes his eyes and holds his breath, counting.
when he opens his eyes, everett is gone.