Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius the Great, #1)

by Adib Khorram

Dad and I both took medication for depression. Aside from Star Trek—and not speaking Farsi—depression was pretty much the only thing we had in common.

For Fariba Bahrami, love was an opportunity, not a burden. I swallowed away the lump in my throat. “I love you, Mamou.”

I knew Sohrab and I were going to be friends for life. Sometimes you can just tell that kind of thing.

The silence between us hung heavy with all the things we couldn’t say. All the things we knew without them being said out loud.

“No one wants me here.” “Everyone wants you here. We have a saying in Farsi. It translates ‘your place was empty.’ We say it when we miss somebody.” I sniffed. “Your place was empty before. But this is your family. You belong here.”

I loved the quiet. Even if it sometimes made me think of sad things. Like whether anyone would miss me if I was dead.

“Suicide isn’t the only way you can lose someone to depression.”

“I know.” He rubbed my back up and down. “It’s okay not to be okay.”

“I was hurting. And you were there. And I knew how to make you hurt as bad as me.”