[ He knows. And he feels - guilt, intensely, when he can feel anything at all. He should be able to handle more than this, but he can't find it in him. He has nothing. Alfie, yes, but he's not sure he can manage to keep struggling to exist for one person. He knows he's selfish. He knows he should try harder, but he's tired, and he wants this to end.
There's no answer for a long, long time. Maybe an hour, and then, out of nowhere, Royce speaks, voice a cracked rasp. He quietly stutters out the prayer Alfie taught him a while back, the one he insisted they were going to say every day. There's no inflection or anything other than just an unsteady, monotone recitation, but. He tries, as difficult as speaking is right now. ]
no subject
There's no answer for a long, long time. Maybe an hour, and then, out of nowhere, Royce speaks, voice a cracked rasp. He quietly stutters out the prayer Alfie taught him a while back, the one he insisted they were going to say every day. There's no inflection or anything other than just an unsteady, monotone recitation, but. He tries, as difficult as speaking is right now. ]