“There was this wall of ice between us that no amount of sunniness could melt. We had been inseparable before that. I could see him through it. The wall. He was the same as he always was. And he wanted to spend time with me the way he always had. But I was untouchable. He threw himself up against the wall over and over because he couldn’t see it. But I couldn’t do anything from my side except watch him pick himself up, every time a little more bruised, and do it again.”
