Paul looked around. He couldn’t escape his visions. He could see death and what they would lose whenever he looked any of them in the eye. Loss and death were so close he could almost taste it.

They all then watched Paul grab his crutches and follow Lee out of the restaurant.

Though Asernam Square was an open mall, no one really knew why smoking was allowed in there. There were still children around. But whatever, Lee needed it. He took out a cigarette from yet another pack he’d been hiding from his friends.

Then, he saw Paul coming out of the place. Paul stood next to him.

Paul looked ahead blankly.

“You probably expected the smoker in the group to wear leather jackets and ripped jeans,” said Lee.

“I kinda knew it’d be you, for some reason,” Paul replied.

Lee smiled at that. “I guess you’re just good with people like that.”

He offered Paul a cigarette, to which Paul quickly declined.

“You shouldn’t smoke. It’s bad for your lungs, you know that?”

Lee replied, “So is too much dairy, apparently. But that won’t stop us from drinking milk.”

Both boys laughed. For some reason, that made Paul lighten up slightly.

“So,” Lee began, “what did you want to tell me?”

“I didn’t want to tell you anything.”

“Sure. Come on, what is it?”

Then, it felt like the world had lost a little color and everything was fading, if not already completely faded. It looked like he was looking in front of him with lens of that shade. But that was just sight. He could smell Aria’s perfume mixed with the scent of Andy’s car. He could hear the sound of alternative music from the 1970s that only brought him to the car rides to school with Lee’s playlist playing. He could feel Greg’s playful shoulder punches and could also feel the way Gabby would squeeze his hand. And then, there was Tony in the end.

“I don’t think I can. I have to be strong, for once I have to be strong,” Paul said, his tone almost making what he said a whimper.

Lee’s stance changed to something closer, his tone to something softer, and his thoughts now concerned and a little worried.

“What’s wrong?”

There was something about the sincerity in Lee’s eyes that caused Paul to break. Paul felt a little pathetic knowing that was all it took. He gave in. He took a deep breath and told him.

“I saw everything. I saw everything that happened and that will happen.”

Lee understood that he was not to tell the others. He knew that much. He let Paul continue.

“I saw this- this evil. It wanted to hurt you, all of you.”

As he continued, he felt like the world was a box closing around him. He was suffocating, choking on his words.

“The evil wanted to kill all of you,” he finished.

Lee and Paul were standing where the others in the restaurant couldn’t see them. That meant only Lee could see Paul have a panic attack. Paul wanted to tell him more. Lee could see that. Instead, though, of pushing Paul to tell him more, he helped Paul calm down.

“It’s okay, Paul. It’s going to be okay. We can do this,” Lee cooed.

Paul was hyperventilating as Lee hugged him tightly.

“It’s going to be okay. I promise.”

“I- we won’t let anything hurt you,” Lee continued.

And in that, Paul felt a little safer.

“We should go back now.”

Lee nodded in agreement. They went back to the restaurant only to see that they had just started eating. At the time, no one asked about that encounter. They knew not to. Judging by Paul’s smiling yet clearly post-cry state, they knew it was best to keep silent.

They all ate and Paul smiled and spoke a little more, thanks to Lee. He reassured him with little things throughout the night. One of which was grabbing Paul’s hand and squeezing it as if to reassure him that everything was going to be fine.

There was one thing, though, something that sent a shiver through Paul’s entire body and scared him to his core.

There was one last dumpling. It was the kind of dumpling that everyone liked, the one that Greg would describe was made heavenly by the cheese that filled it. There was one of those left. Tony hadn’t tried it yet, but he offered to give it to Paul.

“It’ll cheer you up. Put a smile on your face, y’know?” Tony said as he smiled.

To which Greg joked, “The sacrifice play, I like it.”

Those words. Paul did not get any sleep that night.