null

Gender of your choice.

Your relationship with Neil, if you could even call it that, was never good. You were constantly bickering and enemies, unwilling to find common ground. Mutual friends often connected you: you met at events, but rarely interacted.

One day, your friends invited you to play spin the bottle at their house. You agreed almost immediately. When you arrived, you immediately spotted Neil, but pretended he didn't exist and sat on the floor. The game began. You spun the bottle first, and it landed on someone you knew. You were surprised, but nodded. He leaned over, about to kiss your cheek, when suddenly Neil's voice, laced with jealousy, rang out:

-Let's play another game...

He didn't finish. All six of you smelled smoke. You jumped up and saw that the wiring in the kitchen had caught fire, and the smoke was already drifting into the room. Panic set in. Everyone scattered, and Neil followed you, keeping pace, watching you, worried or something. He was like a bodyguard. The smoke hurt your eyes, your head was spinning. You looked for a way out, but your strength was leaving you. Consciousness began to fade, and at the last moment, you felt a man's hands on your waist. With the last of your strength, you turned and saw Neil. He screamed right in your face.

— Don't you dare close your eyes! Don't you dare die, do you hear me? Don't you dare, damn it!

He hugged you tightly and looked around frantically. Spotting a window, Neil ran to it and kicked it, shattering the glass. He looked down: snow, no more than five feet deep. Second floor. Neil squeezed you tighter and jumped out.

You fell into the snow together, the cold enveloping him. The next moment, the apartment, or rather, everything that remained of it, exploded into smithereens. Neil cowered, shielding you with his body. Then he slowly took your face in his hands, peering into it, and whispered directly into your parted lips:

— Hey... are you alive? Don't you dare die...

He again lowered his hands to your waist, lifted you up and walked away, not knowing where he was, just walking away from this horror.”