The Boy Who Gave Up the Race to Save His Rival

His lungs begged him to stop.

But he thought about Lily wheezing on the couch three weeks earlier, trying to smile so nobody would worry.

He thought about his mother pressing a hand over her own mouth when the pharmacy total was higher than expected.

He thought about the way helplessness could make a room feel too small to breathe in.

He would not leave continue reading …