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“Leaf! Can you hear me?”

Leaf pressed a hand to his forehead and groaned as if suffering from a severe headache. He appeared visibly dizzy, with sweat streaming from every pore.

“Withdrawal symptoms,” Nathan reassured José with a nod in response to his concerned look. “The naloxone is working.”

José stuck his arm out. “Come on, get up.”

Together, they helped Leaf to his feet and guided him to bed. Every movement seemed to cause him pain. Once his head was on the pillow, he curled his legs up to his body. His lips trembled, and his hands shook as he clutched the sheets.

José hurried back to the bathroom, dipped a cloth in water, and returned to Leaf. He gently wiped his forehead with it.

“He’ll be okay,” Nathan reassured.

“Stop it! I don’t want to talk to you. Why are you here?”

“I was at the studio, and he called. He wanted to celebrate.”

“Celebrate?” José glared at Nathan. “We have a gig tomorrow. Damn it! Andrej is just waiting for him to mess up! What’s wrong with you guys?”

Nathan lit a cigarette and exhaled smoke. “Am I the only one who still believes in him? I have no doubt he’ll be great tomorrow. And Tris too. They’ll handle it.”

“He almost died just now! And you didn’t even notice!” José exclaimed, throwing his hands up in disbelief. “Andrej is not wrong. Both of them are just shadows of their former selves.”

“Maybe, but they steal the show on stage.”

“Get out! I don’t want to see you anymore today!”

Nathan raised an eyebrow in annoyance and mocked him. “You better keep an eye on him. You can’t be sure if the naloxone neutralizes everything. See you tomorrow.”

José fetched a chair from the living room and positioned it next to Leaf’s bed. The light from the bathroom cast a dim glow over the bedroom. He sat quietly for a moment, surveying the scene.

Books lay strewn beneath the splintered remnants of a chair and a shattered shelf. Clothes were scattered across the room, creating a minefield-like obstacle.

José sighed. It was evident that someone had gone berserk in the room, and he knew from experience how much it took for Leaf to lose his temper and take it out on the furniture.

Leaf was as white as a sheet, staring at him with a glazed look. His body had calmed down somewhat by now. “What happened?” he asked in a raspy voice.

“You OD’d,” José said, wiping the sweat from his forehead and cooling his neck. The heat was already unbearable. California was eagerly awaiting relief from the ongoing heatwave. “Damn it, Leaf. That was close.”

Disoriented and frightened, Leaf scanned his surroundings. He probably wanted to get up and dive back into the haze right away, but he was far too weak to do anything. “Fuck … It was so easy.” Tears welled up in his eyes.

Sympathetically, José softly stroked his head. “What was easy?”

“To die,” Leaf whispered, sniffling as he buried his face in the pillow.

“I thought I’d come here and see how you’re doing,” José said. “I figured we’d hang out on the balcony and just talk about random stuff like usual. And then, out of nowhere, what happened?”

As José set the cloth aside and leaned back in his chair.

“I screwed up,” Leaf mumbled.

“You can still make it right.”

“I can’t go on like this.”

“Then tell me what I should do.”

Leaf covered his eyes with his arm.