When I got to Fang's, he told me Angel and her friend had insisted on having a sleepover last night, so two air mattresses were still blown up covered in a heap of blankets and pillows. I plopped down on the one nearest the TV and Fang on the other.

The tv flickered to life flashing the golden Warner's Brother logo that reminded me of the trees that I loved. I pulled the blankets tighter around me and began to watch intent on not missing a thing. The lights were dimmed, the volume soft and no other sounds beside Fang's shallow breathing beside me.

I was completely immersed in the plot, touched by Andy Dufresne and Red, but for some reason, Brooks and his bird struck me the most. The way he talked to it, fed it and protected it like a small defenseless child made my heart swell. Each time its tiny head popped out his pocket, his giant hand stroked it so gently. He reminded me of my Grandpa. I felt Fang's eyes glance towards me every once in a while, but ignored him.

The night had grown late, but my eyes were glued to the screen. But I suddenly felt my stomach lurch. A thick rope was tied to the ceiling and two black dress shoes kicked away the chair and were dangling over the wooden floor. They kicked and thrashed for a moment, and then were still. I didn't realize I had bolted up into a seated position with my knees tucked into my body and my arms wrapped around them. My heart began to pound, and my hands grew clammy as the view slid up, showing the words Brooks Was Here carved into a beam along the ceiling. Memories came flooding back to me, and I could hear Fang saying my name softly after he hit pause. Everything around me seemed to stop, but I could hear my shallow breathing come quickly. My stomach lurched, and I was hit with a wave of nausea so strong I was afraid I was going to be sick. This scene had not occurred in the book – only Brook's bird had gone back to Shawshank Prison to die where it had been born. I pulled my knees into my chest, my arms wrapped tight around them.

Something warm grabbed my cool, sweaty hand, and I looked over. Fang had grabbed my hand, cradling it in both of his, his dark eyes wide with alarm. "Max."

I slid my gaze towards him, embarrassed to feel my eyes grow hot. The gold specks in his eyes were more prominent than ever as they reflected the light from the screen. "Sorry," I mumbled under my breath.

His hold on my hand tightened, "Don't apologize." He paused, his eyes still searching my face as I felt a tear trickle down my cheek. "Are you okay?"

I didn't respond, I had never talked about this with anyone before, not even my mom or Ella even though they had both encouraged me to open up to someone. They told me it wasn't healthy to keep everything bottled up all the time; naturally, they were right.

"Hang on," he said and hurried upstairs. I heard plastic crinkling, the microwave beeping and glasses clinking. I heard heavy footsteps retreating into the basement, and Fang set down a warm plate of chocolate chip cookies and two glasses of cold milk in between us.

"If you don't want to talk about anything, I get it," he said quietly giving me a penetrating stare. I was so touched by his gesture, that I stood up and surprised myself by wrapping my arms around him in a hug. He stood stiff as a board at first, clearly surprised, but I felt his arms relax and they wrapped around me.

"Thank you," I said, mumbling into his shirt, and I could picture him smile above me. "How did you know chocolate chip cookies were my favorite?" I asked pulling away and sitting back down with the cookies. I bit into one and I closed my eyes as I enjoyed the melted chocolate seeping through the sweet crunch.

He shrugged. What else was new? "You mentioned it in passing once," I stared at him. No one had ever remembered such a small, minute detail about me except for Sam, but that was because we were dating, and even then, it was more of an obligation. "Besides, whenever I'm over your pantry is stocked with Chips Ahoy."

"You're always over," I said rolling my eyes.

He paused, returning his sharp gaze towards me. "Are you sure you're okay, Max?" I nodded slowly. "Do you want to talk about it?"

I was silent for a long time, dragging out the need for me to speak by chewing my cookie slowly. I finally took a long swig of milk, and returned my gaze to Fang. "When I was in eighth grade, I had a friend named Sarah. We did everything together – we had met on the track team in 7th grade, and our personalities just clicked. For the whole summer after seventh grade, we were inseparable. A lot like Nudge and Ella actually," I said trying for a smile, but I noticed Fang listening intently, dead silent and not moving. "Well, as the summer came to a close, Sarah suddenly became more distant. She didn't want to go on long-runs, she didn't want to have crazy sleep-overs like we used to, she didn't even want to come to school and when she did, she was different. I did everything I could over the first few weeks to cheer her up or get her to crack a smile, but nothing worked. Around Thanksgiving, she finally confided in me that she had major depressive disorder, and hers was characterized by a lack of interest in her usual activities like running. Around Christmas, she told me she was considering suicide. Completely horrified, I promised her that I would always be there to listen, to talk, to do whatever she wanted."

I took a deep breath, but my voice came out shaky and uneven, "She used to tell me how she was worthless, how no one would miss her if she was gone, how she felt that she had nothing to live for. I tried to convince her she was wrong, but it's hard to reason with someone who has a severe imbalance of serotonin in their brain. Her parents were distraught; they took her to a therapist who specialized in behavioral depression and she was on a high dose of anti-depressants." I paused again, staring at my hands wringing and twisting in my lap. For the second time that night, Fang reached over and grabbed both of my hands in his sending a surge of warmth through my body. "But, nothing worked. Not the medicine, not my reassurances that I loved her and needed her as a friend, not the psychological counselling she went to each weekend. On February 8th, I got a phone call from her older sister that she had committed suicide. They found her wrists slashed and her body submerged in an overflowing bathtub." I shuddered. Just the image of her broken, crumpled body made me want to throw up. "I never got to tell her again that I loved her or that things would eventually get better. She was only 13."

I shook my head sadly, feeling Fang's eyes on my face. He squeezed my hands gently, "Max, there was nothing you could have done."

I nodded, that's what everyone had told me. My mom. Ella. Sarah's family. But it still didn't make a difference; Sarah was gone, and I was still here and that was what mattered the most. "I know," I said, letting out another shaky breath. It was weird I trusted someone who was a random stranger to me not long ago so much; I had never opened up about Sarah to Sam who had known about the whole story firsthand.

We sat like that for a long time – Fang's hands wrapped around mine, with the movie still paused in the background and the lights dimmed. A while later, I agreed to resume the movie after Fang reassured me that the ending mirrored that of the book.

I still couldn't shake the memory of that fateful day, but I managed to sink into the pillows and enjoyed the rest of the movie as best I could.

I rolled over to face Fang after the credits had finished, "Thank you. For everything. For listening."

He gave me a soft smile, "Have you ever talked about that before?" He asked, reading my mind as per usual. I shook my head. "You know I'm here for you, Max."

I nodded, looking at him seriously, "I'm here for you too, Fang, you know that?" He nodded, and the corners of his mouth twitched in an attempted smile. I slowly fell asleep comforted by the image of Fang laying peacefully on the mattress next to me.

Sorry this chapter is so short - I'm playing around with a few different ideas. Please let me know your thoughts on character and plot development. Thanks and happy reading!