Contents ( 42)
- The Art of Breathing
- Part One: How We Became Who We Are
- Prologue: Or, Where the Kid Hears the Word of the Day
- 1. Where Tyson Learns to Breathe
- 2. Where Tyson Makes a Phone Call
- 3. Where Tyson Graduates and Bear Freaks Out
- 4. Where Tyson Says Good-Bye
- 5. Where Tyson Gets the Mail
- Part Two: Coming Home
- 6. Where Tyson Comes Home
- 7. Where Tyson Gives a History Lesson
- 8. Where Tyson Attends the Most Awkward Party Ever
- 9. Where Tyson Plans Attends a Protest
- 10. Where Tyson Gets Arrested
- 11. Where Tyson Gets His Ass Handed to Him
- 12. Where Tyson Writes Bad Poetry and Gawks at Frat Boys
- 13. Where Tyson Decides to Man the Fuck Up
- 14. Where Tyson Asks Some Questions
- 15. Where Tyson Remembers Theresa Jean Paquinn
- 16. Where Tyson Learns the Benefit of Therapy
- 17. Where Tyson Meets the Man Who Becomes Helena Handbasket
- 18. Where Tyson Gets Screwed at His Own Birthday Party (And Not in a Good Way)
- Part Three: Just Breathe
- 19. Where Tyson Goes to Helena Handbasket’s Sex Dungeon
- 20. Where Tyson Beholds the Awesome Wonder That Is Paul Auster
- 21. Where Tyson Receives Advice from the Six Sages
- 22. Where Tyson Makes a Phone Call
- 23. Where Tyson Hears the Inevitable
- 24. Where Tyson Meets His Match
- 25. Where Tyson Says Hello, Where Tyson Says Good-bye
- 26. Where Tyson Touches upon the Inevitable
- 27. Where Tyson Faces the Music
- 28. Where Tyson Breathes
- 29. Tyson And Dominic
- 30. The Art Of Breathing
- Epilogue: Or, Bear’s Perspective, As It Were (Yeah, He’s Gonna Freak)
- Author’s Note
- Excerpt
- Prologue: Or, Where Bear Answers the Door
- More from TJ Klune
- Readers love the Bear, Otter, and the Kid Chronicles by TJ Klune
- By TJ Klune
“Tyson,” he says.
“How?” I gasp. The panic in my head and chest rises, clawing me, pulling me down. It hurts. Everything hurts.
“Cab,” Dom says. “I couldn’t let you be here alone.”
“I c-c-can’t b-breathe—”
“Hush,” he says. “Listen.”
I hush. I listen.
“Breathe.”
I shake my head. Doesn’t he understand?
“You can.”
I can’t.
“You can,” he says. “Just breathe.”
My throat closes off.
“For me,” he says. “Breathe for me.”
For him. Breathe. For him?
Everything I do is for you, I think.
I close my eyes.
And breathe.
26. Where Tyson Touches upon the Inevitable
I OPEN my eyes. I’m lying on my side on a hard surface. Heat behind me, pressing me up against a chilled white wall. I should feel cramped, but I don’t. But then it hits me where I’m at and I start to shake.
In the bathtub, again. Because of the earthquakes.
“Shhh,” Dom says from behind me against my ear. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.” He pulls me close.
“I’m not fixed,” I mumble. Tears threaten to fall, and I try to hold them back as my throat works. “How come I’m not fixed?”
“It’s going to take time,” he says. “One day.”
“I hate this,” I say. The dam breaks and I weep bitterly. “I hate this.”
“I know,” Dom says.
“This isn’t what I want to be.”
“I know. Tyson, you know it won’t go away just like that.”
“I’m scared.”
“Of?”
“This. What if this is forever?”
“Then we’ll deal with it as we’ve always dealt with things: one day at a time.”
“She ran from us.”
He kisses my neck. “I know.”
“I ran from you.”
“I know, baby.”
“I can’t forgive her. I can forget her, but I can’t forgive her. No matter how hard I try. She ran from us because that was all she could do. She couldn’t breathe and so she ran and ran, and I think she’s still running and I don’t think she’ll ever stop. She has Izzie, but she’ll never stop running.”
“Some people can’t, Ty.”
“You can’t forget me,” I plead, and I think of my sister. “You can be mad, but please don’t forget me. Because I can never forget you. I’ll never be able to. I don’t ever want to. I want to be inevitable for as long as I live, and I only want it to be with you. Please don’t forget me. Please. I promise I won’t run. I ran like she did, but I promise I won’t ever do it again. We’re not the same. We’re not. I’m sorry. Please just say you’ll never forget me.”
“As if I ever could,” he says, a catch in his voice. “I’ve told you, Ty. You and me?” He holds me tight. “It might take time. It might be hard. But I will stand by you and I will help you breathe, and if there are days when there are earthquakes, I promise you I’ll protect you from anything that falls. We’ve had a long road. But it doesn’t matter. Friends until we’re old and gray. Beginning to end. Day after day. Because we’re inevitable.”