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"He’s scheduled for the procedure toht to say good-bye," she said

Like I could say good-bye Jonah had stopped talking ato allow it, you know He loves us too much," I retorted He always stood up to Moasped Mom put a hand up to her mouth and tried to stifle a sob "Honey Fiona Your father’s dead, ree of my father flashed into my head, where he lay dead on the music room floor, his wheelchair overturned beside the piano Jonah, ,over and over That was the last tih"There has to be another option," I whispered "You can’t do this to Jonah! Lis! Talk so sped up and I pressed onin, too To the hospital" I could barely hear her over the siren shrieking in my brain

Slowly I cli harder on my temples, I squeezed my eyes shut "For a morphine pump?" I asked

Mom didn’t answer I opened my eyes and took a step closer Fresh tears shimmered in her eyes, and one eye ollen and framed in black I blinked and looked at my knuckles, black and blue and still swollen I had put that bruise on her earlier that day, before Lis came over, before Mootten?

"No," Mothe doctor induce comas in both of you"

At Mo my sister so sad ht Made me want to tear at my skin until it came off

Instead, I juazine across the roo tears splatter overMy father is dead He didn’t die when the as built He has been dead for four years How could I forget that? Forget the fact that Jonah flew into a violent rage and killed him? I should have remembered And my poor mother I punched her in the face Attacked her And now she’s ize I wrapwith tears Somehow I fall asleep

Bowen lives inwith new life Mybeneath the shadow of a tree, netting covering her face, with Lis,honey into porcelain teacups for the three of the blond hair off her shoulder andme to join them Only, I can’twall, and I can’t pull it free

Boaves o I pull harder but am stuck fast His face falls, as if he thinks I don’t want to come, don’t want to run with him He stands, shakes his head in disappointainst the horizon Moshadow of the wall

I wake sweating, still lying atop a sleeping bag in a deserted hotel, trapped in a blazing world Sweat trickles down ht cos fear It has been nineteen hours since Bowen left, and every hour that passes without his return, I is happening to un and stare at blackness, listening to the sound of airfaintly in row heavy, but h to sleep--anxiety claws atby I findat Bowen’s watch every half hour And then every twenty minutes And then every ten By the ti, I look at his watch every five minutes, and every time I check, every five minutes that passes, it see back I want to screaainst the headboard and forceto slow The anxiety has found its way intodoes nothing to soften anxiety’s fierce grip I look away fro the nback If I refuse to see the dawn, maybe it won’t come

I sit up tall and hold my breath The air has shifted, a bare touch of breeze that coolswider Hope and fear battle insidewith the ever-present panic I lift the rifle toto hear Bowen’s reassuring voice

A shadow slips into the rooaunt wisp of a person, accompanied by the smell of the tunnels All my hope fades with that smell

"Arrin? Er--Arris," I whisper