[ he shakes his head; it feels awful accepting pity when he's the only one who came out of that with nothing but minor cuts and bruises. ]

His cat saw it and hated me... and when those guys were back to normal, they asked where he was, and I had to tell them I...

[ he opens up his fists and looks at the palms of his hands, then just buries his face in them. ]

I-I don't understand how those things work, so— I mean, maybe he was never even really real... a-and I know that was the only option, but it just. It feels really terrible.