Where Austin and Daniel and I bared our demonic teeth at the assembly, while we found our comfort through destruction, the gentler side of the young men who lived within those walls found quiet places to hide. They spent long afternoons in little groups of two or three, sitting in corners playing board games and reading fiction. They would act out unrehearsed plays about kind, clever beings who recited fantastic spells that had the ability to transport a body away from reality and into safer, warmer realms.
We laughed at them; we’d steal the towels they used as capes and break the sticks that they called swords. And that was on days when we were being lazy. Truth be told, however, there wasn’t one of us three who didn’t secretly envy their ability to escape.
They never ran when they saw
