In the shared apartment, the lights were on and the atmosphere felt suspended, as if the air itself knew that something was breaking.

  Kali was sitting on the couch, arms crossed, her face paler than usual. Across from her, Skyler held a steaming cup of tea, impassive as always, though her eyes analyzed every detail with surgical precision.

  "Skyler...?" Kali said softly, not raising her voice. "Do you know anything about Nicco?"

  The question hung in the air for a second before the answer fell like a weight.

  "No," Skyler replied bluntly.

  Kali pressed her lips together. Lowered her gaze. Swallowed hard. But there were no words left to hold up the fa?ade. Everything was falling apart, brick by brick.

  Jake was dead. Viki was missing. Vero had turned her back on them. And now Nicco... Nicco had vanished without a note, without an explanation.

  The anger that had kept Kali going for days cracked.

  Without a word, she stood up and walked to her room. She closed the door with a dull thud and leaned against it, breathing heavily. Her body slowly slid to the floor. And there, in the dim darkness of her room, she allowed herself to fall apart.

  She cried. For Jake. For Viki. For the betrayal. For the loneliness. For Nicco. For not being able to be strong all the time. For feeling like everything she touched eventually crumbled.

  On the other side of the apartment, Dahlia remained in the living room, the tea in her hands now cold. She didn't know what to do. Whether to move. To speak. To hide.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  "I don't know how to help her," she said in a whisper, not looking at Skyler.

  Skyler looked up, as calm as ever.

  "Sometimes, just being there is enough. No words. No judgment. Just presence."

  Dahlia nodded slowly, though her mind was still full of noise. She thought about everything that had happened, what was still to come, and—most of all—what she couldn't change about herself.

  "What if I'm not enough?" she suddenly asked, her voice trembling. "What can a drug addict do, who doesn't even know how to hold herself up...?"

  Skyler looked at her with a mix of toughness and compassion.

  "She can be someone who's seen hell and still chooses to stay. That's already more than most people can offer."

  Dahlia took a deep breath. She set the cup aside and stood up. She walked to Kali's room door and knocked softly.

  "Kali? It's me... can I come in?"

  There was no response. But Dahlia went in anyway.

  Kali was on the bed, lying on her side, eyes swollen and the blanket half-draped over her. She didn't say anything when she saw Dahlia, but she didn't ask her to leave either.

  Dahlia sat on the edge of the bed. She didn't look at her directly.

  "I won't say it's going to get better. Because I don't know. But I'm here," she murmured. "And I'm not going anywhere. We're in this together, remember? We're strong. We can get through this. You can get through this. And don't worry—whatever's happened with Nicco... it'll work out. I promise."

  A long silence settled between them. Kali didn't speak. But she slowly sat up and gave Dahlia a hug. They embraced for a few moments, then pulled away.

  "How about we go to the living room and watch something with junk food?" Dahlia said with a slight smile.

  Kali, wiping her tears, nodded weakly.

  Skyler, from the living room, watched the empty hallway. She put on her jacket, grabbed her bag, and walked to the door. Before leaving, she took one last glance back into the apartment.

  "Take care of each other," she whispered. And she left.

  The door closed with a soft click. Leaving behind a fragile but living home. Two girls in a crumbling world, trying to hold each other up with the little they had left. And sometimes, that was all it took.

  A good friend.