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Heart beating fast inbody drowning in the dark material of her dress as she curled herself in between the roots of a large tree Her shoulders were shaking as she cried, her body shuddering with sobs, but nota sound

Dropping to h the links of the fence and stared I wanted to say so, but I didn’t—couldn’t—speak to anyone but Kyler and Pop Even then it weren’t often

I closed hting to free the words that never wanted to coht but one I rarely won

Droppingmy face muscles when the tiny chick froze on the spot and her eyes locked on h the fence She had huge, blue eyes rimmed with red marks Her small hand moved to her face to wipe at her wet cheeks; her bottom lip quivered and her chest heaved hard

From my new position, I could see her hair was as black as coal and her skin so pale I’d never seen no one like her before Then again, I didn’t know e; no one did in club life There was Kyler, of course, but he was my best friend, my club brother

Suddenly, the chick panicked; her face blanched, she shot to her feet, and her head turned back toward the forest I scra at the contact The chick froze and looked back, gripping a branch as she watched me

Who are you? I signed real fast

The girl sed nervously and tilted her head Cautiously, she edged forward in silence, curiosity etched on her tiny face She was staring at n, her dark eyebrows pulled down real low

The closer she got, the more my breath came short and I felt warht knot at the back of her head, covered by a weird white cloth I’d never seen anyone dressed like her before She looked so strange

When she stopped ’bout two yards away, I sucked in a breath, squeezed ain Who are you?

She didn’t speak, just stared at me blankly Goddamn it! She didn’t understand ASL Not many folks did I could hear just fine, but I didn’t speak Ky and Pop were the only folks who could translate for ht noas on my own

Sucking in another deep breath, I sed and tried really hard to work loose h what I wanted to ask and, holding a slow, controlled exhale, I tried my damnedest to talk

“Wh-ho a-are y-y-you?”

As I fell back in shock, my eyes widened I’d never been able to do that before, speak to a total stranger My hands fidgeted in excitement I could talk to this chick! I could talk… that made her number three