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
“But you always talked to me about it,” he says. “Always. And then the shit started to hit the fan and I didn’t know about it. Do you know what it felt like, Kid, finding all those empty pill bottles stashed in your room? Do you know what it did to me, knowing how many hundreds of pills you’d gone through in the space of a few months?” He shakes his head angrily. “That killed me. And Otter. I’ve never gone through anything like that.”
“I’ve apologized for that,” I say coolly. “Many times. I don’t think I have it in me to keep apologizing. It’s over. I’m clean now.”
“I know.”
“I know it was stupid. I didn’t know what else to do!”
“It was because of Dom,” Bear says.
“That’s not fair,” I say hoarsely. “That’s not fair and you know it. Don’t you dare put that on him. He didn’t cause my mistakes. I did.”
“You know what I mean. It killed you, what happened.”
“It did. But that wasn’t all of it. It was a part. But not all.”
“And you think things will be any different now?”
I don’t know how we got to this point. It feels like we’re spiraling out of control. The anger in my chest is white hot, and I’m struggling to keep breathing. “You’re not my father. No matter how hard you try.”
“I know that,” he says helplessly. “But I am more than that. I am your brother.”
“Then why do you keep throwing shit back in my face? Why can’t you trust me on this?”
“Because I failed you,” he says. And with that, the fight seems to leave him. His shoulders slump and he looks down at his hands. “Because it’s my fault all of this happened. Everything you went through after we left.”
I sigh. “Bear. It wasn’t you. You know that.”
“Maybe if I’d—”
“There was nothing you could’ve done,” I tell him as gently as I can. “You or Otter. This was something that happened. It was something that ended. I got knocked on my ass, but I picked myself back up. You helped. You always do, and I don’t know if I could have done it without you.”
He shakes his head. “I keep thinking—” He stops as his voice breaks. “I keep thinking what would have happened. If I’d have lost you. I….”
“You didn’t.”
“It would’ve killed me,” he says, looking up at me. His eyes are bright. “If something had happened to you. If it does, if it ever does, I think I might just lie down right there and die. I can’t. Not without you. Not ever.”
“Bear—”
“You made me promise you. Do you remember? A long time ago, you made me promise that it’d always be you and me. Do you remember?”
I do. Bear and Otter had gone out one night. I was nine. Left with Mrs. Paquinn. It should’ve been fine. And it was, for a time. But then something hit me wrong. Bad dreams, bad feelings, bad something, and I was in the bathtub before I knew it.