One, two, three Part II

“One of them died a long time ago. :)”

“Died…?” I repeated. My heart felt like it was being squeezed hard, making me stop breathing for a moment. Dylan stared at the photo. He brushed his fingers across the photo of one of the boys. He was likely the one who died. “Since when?”

“About seven or eight years ago. I was still a kid back then.” He made a face as if thinking back to it and snorted as if this was funny. “I didn’t think about it for a long time. I miss him now that you mentioned it.”

“I didn’t mean to. I’m just... a little curious.”

“I know. It’s normal that you want to know a bit about us.”

“...”

“Well, we already know a lot about you.” He raised an amused eyebrow, even though what he said before was heartbreaking. I thought he was trying to hide the grief inside his heart. When someone mentioned our dead loved ones, it was never funny. I also did not like when someone talked about my parents.

It was painful.

“I thought you were going to ask how he died.”