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The disgust was too overwhelming for Hollis to continue his instinctual scream; he was shocked into silence as Walt walked his body up the stairs.

Walt took a few steps toward Hollis’s parents’ bedroom, then paused, turned Hollis’s body around, and chose the correct door. He shut it behind them, placed the mug on Hollis’s desk, and took off his coat.

Then Walt closed Hollis’s eyes and breathed in deeply.

This room doesn’t smell nearly as rank as most other guys’ rooms. Could be cleaner though. Your ma seems nice.

Spend a lot of time in teenage boys’ rooms, you pedo? Hollis couldn’t control his mouth.

I’m seventeen, Walt replied. Kind of. Choosing people around the age I feel is more comfortable. So yeah, I’ve endured a lot of rank-smelling rooms. And I can’t just immediately clean them; people get suspicious.

Walt took a sip of the hot sweet milk and ran a curious finger over some of the books in Hollis’s cheap Walmart bookshelf.

You seem calmer. That’s good.

It will pass, Hollis snapped.

Hollis could feel the muscles of his face shifting into a smile again, and it made his skin crawl.

I hate you. I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you.

Walt scrubbed a hand over the back of Hollis’s neck and stopped talking to him. He just sat in Hollis’s desk chair and finished his milk as Hollis shouted obscenities at him inside.

Then he stood up and took a deep breath.

“Here we go.”

He left Hollis’s room and headed for the bathroom.