I still had face paint on when I walked into Micah's room that night, straight from the arena, still riding the high of forty thousand people screaming my name an hour earlier. I hadn't bothered changing out of the ridiculous costume either, the full mask and cape getup my character wore for entrances, because I'd promised the kid weeks ago that if he was feeling up to it, he'd get to meet "The Grizzly" in person.
I heard him laughing before I even got the door fully open.
"You're supposed to look scary," Micah said, sitting up in bed, IV pole beside him, grinning wider than I'd seen him grin since I met him. "You look silly."
"Silly?" I gasped, clutching my chest like he'd wounded me. "I'll have you know forty thousand people were terrified of this face tonight."
"I'm not terrified,"
