“Good-bye, Maven,' Cal says, his voice broken. He isn't really speaking to me.
The farewell is for another boy, lost years ago, before he became what I am now. Cal lets go of him, the Maven I was. The Maven I still am, somewhere inside, unable or unwilling to step into the light.

Despite all our difference between us, we have this in common. We use our pain to destroy.

'Good-bye Cal,' I say to no one.
Weakness, my mother answers.”