Three Breakdowns A Year Was All I Was Allowed novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Not a Breakdown

That night I opened Pia's box on the floor of my sister's torn-up kitchen.

Shanna was on shift at the hospital until morning.

Luther was there because he had a cabinet to hang, and he had said he would stay out of my way.

He was on his ladder with a level and a pencil, and he kept his back to me.

Inside the box were a dozen packs of tissues, and nothing else.

I looked through them without meaning to.

March 9, March 12, June 14, and nine more packs without a date, for the ones Pia expected.

My hands started shaking.

I got up to put the kettle on the camp stove Luther kept in the corner, because it was something to do with my hands.

I grabbed the pot instead of the handle.

"Ah," I said, and dropped it.

Hot water went across the subfloor, and my palm went white and then red.

"Don't move," Luther said, and he was off the ladder before the pot stopped rolling.

He ran my hand under the cold tap and held it there with his own big one around my wrist.

"That's a burn," I said, and it came out as a sob.

"It's a small one. You'll be fine."

"That's four. That's five. I don't know what number this is."

"What number what is?"

"Mine," I said. "I've already had three. I had the fourth at the dinner. He's going to count this one, and I haven't got any left, and I don't know how to stop it."

I slid down the cabinet to the floor.

I could not keep it in anymore, so I did not try.

I cried the way I had in March, bent over with my arms around my knees, and the noise that came out of me was ugly.

← Chapter 4 · All chapters · Chapter 6 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend