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It’s a dark-green dress with fitted sleeves; a sis to the soft curves of her figure It coreen in her eyes in a way I couldn’t have anticipated It’s one of theso And I can’t quite explain it, but it givesI picked out myself

"I’ain struck by how i atit falls to the ainst this unbidden need to run h it She’s so beautiful

I don’t understand why she keeps apologizing

She shuts the door behind her She’s walking over toquickly now, and it doesn’t feel natural I do not react this way I do not lose control I see her every day andis off; this isn’t right

She’s touchingthe curve of, but I can’t speak; I’m frozen in place

I want to tell her to stop, to leave, but parts of me are at war I’m happy to have her close even if it hurts, even if it doesn’t make any sense But I can’t seem to reach for her; I can’t hold her like I’ve alanted to

She looks at reen eyes and I feel guilty so suddenly, without understanding why But there’s so about the way she looks at nificant, as if she’s the only one who’s realized I’m entirely hollow inside She’s found the cracks in this cast I’m forced to wear every day, and it petrifies irl would know exactly how to shatter ainst s her fingers into ony is so blinding that this time I actually scream I fall toit backward until I’ not to lose asp, "please--"

She runs her free hand through s my head back so I’m forced to meet her eyes And then she leans intomy cheek "Do you love me?" she whispers

"What?" I breathe "What are you doing--"

"Do you still lovethe shape of my face, the line of my jaw

"Yes," I tell her "Yes I still do--"

She smiles

It’s such a sweet, innocent shtens aroundripped fro spots when she says, "It’s al to look around "What’s aler and I’ll leave"

"No--no, don’t go--where are you going--"

"You’ll be all right," she says "I pro, "no--"

All at once she yanks me forward, and I’m awake so quickly I can’t breathe

I blink several tiht Absolute blackness greets ; , and I realize ed under e

It takes a few hts slowly retreat from panic

Juliette

I can’t control a night moments her name is the only re humiliation will not allow me much more than that

Seven

"Well, isn’t this e My son, tied down like an aniht I ht of restraints around my left wrist and both ankles My injured arh the pain in ht huer Even my head feels clearer, sharper so sour andI’ve been in bed

"Did you really think I wouldn’t find out?" he asks, amused

He ht throughmy men to blame him for the inconvenience of this unexpected visit No doubt you terrified the oldhis job, when the truth is, I would’ve found out even without his alerts This," he says, "is not the kind ofotherwise"

I feel a light tugging onainstdeep and dark within h to make me physically ill I taste vomit at the back of my throat It takes all my self-control not to jerk away froh to function now You were too stupid to rest when you were supposed to, and now you’ve overcorrected Three days you’ve been unconscious, and I arrived twenty-seven hours ago Now get up This is ridiculous"

I’

He changes tactics

"You know," he says carefully, "I’ve actually heard an interesting story about you" He sits down on the edge of ht "Would you like to hear it?"