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TWELVE

"Once upon a tionna be me in a few hundred years"

"This part we know," I said

"My story, my rules," Marc snapped back, and I had to bitebrain-choood friend "Okay So-"

"Where did you get the hospital scrubs?" Tina asked She&039;d come late to our little "Welco her curiosity "And how did you-"

"Will you guys give me five seconds, please? Cripes Anyway To save reat phrase, Betsy, it pretty perfectly suuy&039;s extreme awfulness-"

"It did, didn&039;t it?" I was pleased; I so rarely was able to turn a phrase without using the word asshat "He wasn&039;t Marc-the-vaot done scaring the living shit out ofand OD&039;d on morphine Which, by the way, is pretty much the awesomest way to die"

"This is not a cautionary tale," Sinclair coin-or end-with awesomest"

"And thanks once again for offing yourself in our house, you inconsiderate asshat!" See? Asshat was my default Hey, it worked for uys shut the hell up so I can tell this?" Zolared around at us, and there was so in seats but ere finally quiet enough to suit him We weren&039;t sure ould set hi frenzy, so we tried to sit still and pay attention "Anyway The last thing I re asleep in my bed as I tumbled into ain ("Morphine&039;s sweet e us or what? "Morphine&039;s sweet embrace" in my house?), I opened lared at me Phooey

"And then I was in the attic Alive Except not"

"We never put you in the ground," Sinclair proured out onsarcasm

"You forbade a funeral-reirly journal"

"Betsy, coirly journal"

"It has A pink Cover"

He ood trick, withlate Nove? What&039;s the date?"

"Unfortunately, Thanksgiving still looms over our lives like a scythe made of turkey drumsticksit&039;s this Thursday But anyway, you-your dead body, I mean-were in a crypt, or whatever they call those places where they keep coffins until the ground&039;s soft enough to dig up And then you were here"

"The part in between is e are keenly interested in," Sinclair said

"I&039;ll bet Okay, soI OD&039;d And then I was in the attic"

"Yeah? And?" Jessica was looking less horrified and more interested She still kept her distance, but who could blaotten there, so I figured it was a good ti to think of what to do I kneasn&039;t alive anyht" He stared at his hands, the long slender fingers he&039;d used to fix broken bones and stitch up kids who fell down on playgrounds and pump his system with a lethal dose of morphine "I felt different I didn&039;t feel alive-I saw things, ss in a different way" He paused, clearly struggling for a way to explain "I wasn&039;t rotting or craving brains or anything, but I kneasn&039;t alivethe world just lookedI can&039;t really explainshit!" His fist dropped to the table and his body language was putting out "ht now" vibes "I&039; this very well"

"Take your time," Tina soothed

"Screw thatwhat about my cat? Can we talk about my dead cat?"

"Oh my God" Jessica&039;s hands went to her mouth She saw Sinclair and Tina flinch "I&039; Giselle the cat? Were you eating her brains? You were, weren&039;t you! Oh, Marc!"

"Gross, of course not!" Zo her so I wouldn&039;t rot faster"

Nobody said anything Probably because not a one of us had any idea what to say

"Okay, I know that sounds bad," Marc began "But-"

"So you wouldn&039;t rot faster?" I practically screamed "That&039;s why you were up to your elbows in dead cat when I found you? To prevent rapid rotting? Because that&039;s pretty bad, Marc, that&039;s pretty damned awful!"

"I was only up to nity "It wasn&039;t like she cared"

"I cared!"

"I&039; it" I was pretty sure that rongpretty sure he was doing, at best, both "Look, I saw you go outside to bury her"

"How did you know just what she was doing?" Sinclair asked He, Nick/Dick, and Tina were the only ones keeping their cool