Tadhg woke up gasping.

Sweat clung to his back, his hands, his hair. The room was dark, the air thick and stale, and for half a second, he didn’t know where he was. Didn’t know when he was.

The mattress beneath him was solid, not the half-sprung, piss-stained one from before. The walls didn’t stink of whiskey and damp, there were no footsteps in the hall—no creak of the floorboards, no slow, deliberate knock on the door—

But his body didn’t care about logic. Didn’t care that he was seventeen now, taller, stronger, with fists that could swing back if he wanted them to. Or that he didn’t live there anymore. That that house on Elky Road didn’t exist anymore.

His chest was caving in, ribs locking tight like they had when he was small, when there had been nowhere to go, no one to help—

Breathe.

He scrambled for his phone, eyes stinging. He didn’t think, just scrolled, heart slamming, fingers trembling.

Calling…

The ring dragged out. Once. Twice. Then—

“Tadhg?”

His heart dropped. Fluttered with the butterflies that awoke in his stomach. He squeezed his eyes shut, gripped the phone tighter. His voice was hoarse when he said, “Sorry.”

A pause. Then, softer, “What’s wrong?” He tried to answer. Tried to force words past the mess in his throat, but his breath shuddered, and that was answer enough.

“Are you okay?” No.

“Where are you?”

He blinked hard. Swallowed. “Home.” Home.

Where Edel and John were sleeping down the hallway with Sean wedged and snoring in between them because he was scared of monsters, not a monster. Where Ollie was probably propped up at his desk studying for exams that were months away. Home.

Another pause. Then movement. “Stay on the phone with me.” The knot in his chest loosened, just a little.

He pressed his forehead against his knee, breathing in, breathing out. Her voice filled the silence—steady, grounding, something to hold onto. And eventually, eventually, his ribs unlocked, his hands stopped shaking, and he could breathe again.