#Chapter31
/"I guess I wouldn't want to talk to me either,/" he whispered towards his birdie stuffie. He'd created a sock puppet called Stripes. Found an old white sock from his drawer and used a marker to draw eyes and a smile on it. He'd been using it at home. He'd been pretending that it was as good as Teddy had been. He'd been pretending that it was as comforting as the stuffed birdie was when he could sneak away to cuddle him. He helped. Stripes had managed to make him feel slightly less alone — but incredibly pathetic at the same time — but he still didn't compare.
/"Maybe I should just — /"
He froze as Raven's name flashed up on his screen. His tongue stuck against the roof of his mouth. And when he slid his finger across the lock screen, two attempts before his thumb would adhere, the voice that crinkled through the receiver was like a sledgehammer to the numbness; it was a doorway to all the feelings he'd been avoiding.
