#Chapter 161 – Mind to Mind

Victor stays in Alvin’s room that night. At some point, Burton had brought them up bowls of soup and rich crusty bread, but Victor hadn’t eaten his. He was pleased, though, to see that Alvin still had an appetite. The boy had been hungry and clearly was not nearly so devastated as Victor was. Victor couldn’t really understand why – Alvin was just a six year old kid who had just lost, apparently, his mother and his brother. Why wasn’t he freaking out? They watched some television passively, Victor letting Alvin pick whatever he wanted. Only Alvin watched, really. Victor, instead, watched his son. “Are you okay, kid?” Victor had asked, reaching out a hand to palm the back of Alvin’s head, stroking his soft dark hair. Alvin had turned to him with a shrug. “I’m sad,” he said, considering it. “But it will be okay.” Victor had frowned at him, confused. He had no such confidence – in fact, everything felt absolutely the opposite of okay right now. Everything felt deeply, deeply doomed.