Realizing that I wasn't going to get any sleep anyway, I gave up and just decided to wait till it was time to get ready for school. In the meantime, I planned to do some research. 

I opened my laptop and sat on my bed, trying to find out any information that I could about Stargardt's. Like Ace had said, the severity differed from person to person, and there was virtually no way to find out what exactly was his level of severity. I searched some images, trying to read up what issues it can cause, trying to get into Ace's head. To understand what he was going through. To understand how the world would change for him so maybe  I could help him through it. 

I found a few videos that left me feeling slightly optimistic. People with a condition similar to Ace's describing their own experience. My heart broke when I realized how much Ace had really been hiding. The entire catastrophic diagnosis, the eye examinations, the fear, the loneliness. 

I tried not to dwell on it, my heart hollowed every time I realized that he had consciously decided not to let me partake in his sadness. Not to share his pain. Was it because he was scared? Ashamed? No way he would be so stupid. 

I sighed and shut my laptop after a while, my head buzzing with information. The more I read about it, the more optimistic I felt. Was  I being stupid? Maybe. 

A few hours later, I dressed up and stood outside my house. My heart fluttered when I saw Ace's car making its way towards me. He stopped near where I was standing and grinned at me. 

"Oh hey, I haven't seen you since an hour."

I shook my head, my cheeks burning again as the memories flooded back and I quietly slipped into the passenger seat. We drove silently to school and I  leaned against the window, gazing at the passing scenery which suddenly looked more beautiful than I ever remembered. 

And maybe I was imagining it, but Ace seemed to be in a much better mood throughout the day as well. He laughed more easily, smiled genuinely and even seemed to be trying to pay attention in class. Something that for once I couldn't bring myself to do seeing that I spent ninety per cent of my time staring at him instead. 

During break, we were sitting on the school grounds under the bright sunlight. I knew the bright light was likely to hurt his eyes, but wasn't going to bring it up unless he did. 

He complained about how much more demanding primary school has become now than it was when we were in it. I couldn't help but grin at his salty bitter-person behaviour as he rambled on about some project Allie had got. I was happy that in spite of everything, he was acting normally with me, albeit a little more affectionate. The awkwardness was slowly ebbing away and I realized maybe doing it again wouldn't be such a bad idea. Before I could offer my proposal, however, his phone buzzed and he reached for it. 

His eyebrows furrowed as he stared at the phone, his skin quickly losing all its colour. Icy claws clenched my heart. 

"Ace?"

He grit his teeth, his jaw tense. I waited for him to tell me what was wrong but instead he got to his feet, slipping his phone into his pocket and nodding at me. "Let's go."

I gaped at him for a while before following him back to class, wondering what had happened to make him act this way all of a sudden. 

I kept waiting for him to tell me what had happened throughout the rest of the day. However, he didn't say another word, occasionally clenching his jaw and subconsciously scratching the furniture. He was anxious, and definitely angry about something. Was it something about him? But why would that make him angry? Maybe it was Celia? Was he arguing with her again?

He didn't tell me anything however until we were back in his car later that afternoon. I bit my lip, gazing outside quietly. His eerie silence was making me worry even more and just when I decided to ask him, he spoke up instead. 

"She's fucking engaged. Celia. Is fucking engaged."

"Oh," I said. He sounded furious, his jaw clenching and unclenching. His knuckles on the steering wheel almost white from how hard he was gripping it. "That's...er..."

"Why the fuck does she have to get married?" he said incredulously. "I mean for fuck sake. To have a strange fucking man inside the house the entire time? Near Allie? How fucking stupid can she be?"

I waited for his rant to continue, knowing that anything I say would only piss him off further. 

"And I don't want another guy in my house. It barely feels like home anyway and how she just has to fucking make it worse," he grit his teeth so violently I was half afraid he would hurt himself. "Like it's my dad's house. Allie is my sister. And now she's just off marrying this random-ass guy-"

"Who is she marrying?" I asked. "Dave?"

He took a deep breath before nodding. 

I bit my lip but didn't respond. Dave was definitely not a random ass guy and as much as it would hurt Ace to hear it, he seemed like a stand-up, decent man to me. Celia had been dating him from almost two years from what I remembered. Although, I had rarely seen him. Being a doctor meant most of his time was spent working. 

"He...he seems alright, Ace. I'm pretty sure Celia doesn't want any harm to come to Allie either." I tried to rationalize with him but was met with stoic silence. 

He took a deep breath after a while. "You know what...I'm going to put an end to her bullshit right now."

I stared at him. "Ace...what do you mean?"

"She can't marry him. Not now. If she wants to marry a different guy and move on or whatever the fuck, then I get to keep my sister. No fucking way I'm going to jeopardize her by letting some random man have access to her." 

Although I understood the concern behind his words and realized the truth of them, I thought it was prudent to give the man the benefit of the doubt. But maybe Ace was right and it was better to err on the side of caution. 

"Ace...I...look you're right. Okay? You're absolutely right," I began. "But children are really intuitive and...well Allie does seem to like him. And of course, I understand you want to protect her...but Celia is her mother and as much as it hurts, she has more say over her than you do."

He didn't respond, turning the steering wheel so violently that I had to grip the dashboard to keep myself steady. I decided to shut up immediately. Maybe he would listen to reason when he wasn't so angry. 

After a while, we reached his place and he haphazardly parked the car near the road. He leapt out and banged the door shut. I sighed and stepped out, bracing myself for the oncoming disaster. 

He made his way quickly towards his home while I stood still, gazing at the three unfamiliar cars parked outside. It made sense that if Celia had just got engaged, they would have guests over to celebrate, which would make Ace's outburst much worse. 

I had to run to catch up to him. He rang the doorbell incessantly a few times before a woman I had never seen before opened the door. 

"Archer," she said, smiling. She had dirty blonde hair and a smile that was vaguely familiar. It took a while for me to realize that she was probably Celia's sister. 

"Aunt Mitchell," Ace nodded as she stepped back to let us in. 

"Er...hi," I said awkwardly before Ace grabbed my hand and almost dragged me away from his bewildered aunt. 

I heard loud laughter and music from the living room and my feet seemed to freeze in dread. I didn't want Ace to create a scene in front of everyone, but by the looks of it, he was definitely going to. I gripped his hand and forced him to look at me. 

"Ace, please don't make a scene in front of everyone," I said, lowering my voice. "Just talk to her later. In private. This is not going to ac-"

I stuttered to a stop as the door to the living room opened and Celia walked out with Dave. Her eyes darkened immediately and I realized she was as apprehensive of Ace's reaction as I was. 

"Ace," she said softy, nodding at me. "Hi, Miles."

"Hello!" I squeaked, fidgeting my feet anxiously. 

"Hi, Archer. Hello Miles, " Dave said and smiled at us. In spite of the dark shadows under his eyes, his brown eyes glittered. I felt a pang of guilt, realising how many joys and sorrows were clashing.  I nodded at him, tugging at Ace's sleeve and hoping he wouldn't start yelling at them. 

Ace took a deep breath as Celia shut the door behind her, muffling the noise from what I assumed was the gathering inside. 

"What the fuck is this?"

Celia sighed. "Ace-"

"I need to talk to you. Away from him," he said, his eyes flashing as he glanced at Dave. I realized how extremely rude he would seem, but Dave didn't seem to mind as he nodded and opened the door to the living room again before disappearing behind it and shutting it. 

"What the fuck are you doing?" Ace said, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Do you understand the implications of this? You're literally just giving this stranger access to our entire house? Bringing him into our lives? Who gave you the fucking right?"

Hurt seemed to flash behind her eyes as she opened her mouth to speak. "Ace, look, I understand it's a difficult thing for you to accept. And I'm not-"

"Not for me, I'm saying this for Allie," he said, his voice laced with venom. I took a step back, suddenly extremely conscious of my hands and quickly putting them in my pocket as he continued. "If you marry him, this guy is going to be near her all the fucking time. What makes you trust him so much? I'm not going to let you do this to my sister."

"Ace, for the last time, you need to understand that you're not the only one who cares for her," Celia said, her eyes flashing with anger as I took another step back and wondered if I should just leave. "I'm her mother. I want to protect her even more than you do. I'm not going to let anything harm her."

"We all know how fucking responsible you are," Ace said, his nostrils flaring as he stood up straighter. "You've been sober for like a day or something and you're crowning yourself best mother or something?"

I was half afraid they would simply start yelling at each other, in which case, I would promptly leave. However, I had to give credit to Celia when instead she took a deep breath and shut her eyes, enunciating slowly when she opened them again. "Ace, I know what I have done. I know I have made mistakes. But I care about Allie. I don't-"

"I don't fucking care for your stupid arguments," Ace said, balling his fists. "I don't want this random guy in my dad's house. And I do not want him anywhere near Allie."

Celia sighed. "We...we are not going to stay here."

The air seemed to rush out of my lungs as Ace visibly deflated and he gawked at her stupidly. "W-what?"

Celia suddenly seemed uncomfortable as she shuffled her feet and shook her head. "We're moving to Dave's place. It's in the city. It's much bigger. Allie can get into one of those really nice big schools and-" she gazed at Ace, her eyes twinkling softly. "It's near some great universities that you can apply to as well. It'll be much better-"

My heart seemed to crush under the weight of her words. The city was about a two-hour drive from here under no traffic. I wouldn't get to see Ace nearly as much. 

"No," Ace said. "I'm not moving. And I'm not leaving this house. It's my dad's fucking house. How did you just assume-?" his voice rose almost hysterically and my momentary relief at his refusal to leave Haywood disappeared. Celia seemed to panic for a while, her face ghostly white and her eyes widening. I decided to step in and grabbed his hand tightly. 

"Ace-"

"What're you going to do to this house anyway? Sell it? Or just fucking rent it out or something? How did you think you could just do that without even consulting-" Ace continued, glowering at Celia. 

He was yelling now. Celia flinched and I spoke louder. "Ace, please-"

He jerked his hand away from me and turned to me instead. "Are you fucking listening to her, Miles? She just made all these damn decisions without-"

"Ace-" 

I struggled to utter coherent words. Thankfully, at that precise moment, the bell rang and I heaved a sigh of relief. Before any of us could move, however, the living room door opened again and Dave stepped out, his eyebrows furrowed in a way that told me Ace was as audible as I had feared he would be. He seemed to visibly stiffen on Dave's arrival but thankfully shut up. The three of us stood in awkward silence before the door opened and I heard Allie's loud voice carry down the hallway. 

A few moments later, she appeared in front of us, her hand in Dave's as she gazed with round eyes at her mom and brother standing suddenly stock-still.

"What's wrong mommy?" she asked, her eyes widening further. 

Ace glared at Celia, waiting for her to respond. He crossed his arms in front of his chest. 

"Sweetie, I'm going to marry Dave," Celia said finally. 

There was a long pause in which Allie's mouth dropped open. I knew how much ever Celia wanted to marry Dave, there was no way she would go through with it if Allie didn't want her to. However, Allie gave a broad smile and quickly turned to Dave, hugging him around the waist and laughing. 

"That is wonderful!" she squealed. 

Celia seemed to let out a breath, her gaze travelling for a second to Ace who seemed to be in a state of shock. His face was pale, his eyes frozen on his little sister as he hugged the man who was soon to be her father. 

"And we are going to live in a big house with a playground you'll love," Dave said, smiling as he crouched down to hug her close. I gulped and took a step closer to Ace, worried by his silence. 

Celia bit her lip and glanced at him as well, nervous. 

Something happened in that second. His eyes seemed to darken impossibly like some fire had been doused. The azure taken over by midnight blue. Like his tattered spirit had broken. 

"Congratulations," he said finally, his voice flat and toneless. I stood agape as he ran upstairs, leaving a gaping silence in his wake.