Chapter 5: The New Home
The first night in the apartment was quiet.
Matthew had painted the walls blue, the color Sammy had always loved. The dinosaur sheets were on the bed. The stuffed bear sat on the pillow.
Sammy walked around the small space touching everything as if afraid it would disappear.
“Is this really ours?” he asked.
Matthew nodded.
“It’s ours. No one can take it away.”
They ate pizza on the floor because there was no table yet. Sammy fell asleep with his head in Matthew’s lap, the stuffed bear clutched in his arms.
Matthew stayed awake long after Sammy was asleep, staring at the ceiling and listening to his brother’s steady breathing.
Five years of warehouses, car washes, night classes, and loneliness had led to this moment.
He had kept his promise.
The next morning Sammy woke up smiling.
“Can we make pancakes?”
Matthew laughed.
“We can make whatever you want.”
The road ahead would still be hard. There would be court reviews, financial struggles, and the long process of healing from everything they had lost.
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But they were together.
And that was the only thing that had ever mattered.
