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"You re very surprised

I nodded "Just one memory She’d come to my , asked ht thehed "I’d forbidden you fro her after she went to rehab the first time, but you didn’t listen You never did when it cairl"

"Apparently one ti her away frolad you did," ot," the senator warned

"She’s what?" I asked I already knew the answer, but a part of me needed to hear it out loud

"She’s dead,"of her shoulder "That poison she was shooting into herself finally killed her They found her in a dirty hway" There was no reverence in my mother’s voice; her nose was turned up as if she s foul in the air "She had a purse full of condo herself to support her habit"

I stood fro it backward "So, just because you buy your shit with a fancy label and pour it into crystal, you think it makes you somehow different?" I pointed to the drink in her hand "Nikki shot her shit into a vein, you’reyours down your throat" I shook norant bitch! She was an addict, just like you’re obviously an addict The only difference between the two of you is that she didn’t try and make it look pretty"

"Get Out," lass against the wall and it shattered against a picture of George W Bush

"Both of you Stop Margot, the car is waiting Go I’ll join you shortly" Mythe roo shut a few seconds later

My father didn’t address my mother’s behavior "We have to leave for an event in Myrtle Beach In theto see you He’s an expert on brain trauma and mereed to coone and…your ile these days Go easy on her" he stood up and buttoned his jacket He opened his desk drawer and retrieved a gaudy bright gold watch with red diamonds around the bezel "We’ll be back Thursday," he clipped, and left the roo alone made no sense at all Because I’d much rather be alone than spend another ht then and there to be theto row up feeling loved and knowing that noin the world I ever wanted was for hirow up and hate his own

When the debris settled in the roolance out from behind the coffee table where I’d ducked for cover The couch where Bear had been sitting could no longer be seen in the rubble

And neither could Bear

There was a commotion of voices Co spoken into a canyon, and all I could make out where the echoes of their voices

Pain Dull and pulsing, radiated from my head Blood dripped intoAK’s clamored over the remains of the wall and entered the apart from the pile of debris on the couch and that’s when I finally caught a gli at an aard angle, dangling over a large piece of concrete His jeans ripped His calf dripping blood

So moved outside and my attention snapped back to the hole in the wall There was large truck just beyond the wreckage, it was still running, the headlights on and shining directly into the apart device

Leaning up against the truck, was Eli

He spottedan old friend

A crunching noise sounded from behindover onna die today," the man said Scars covered one side of his jaw, a shitty thin lined prison tat covered his neck A toothpick hung fro up and dohen he spoke