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"Yeah," I say, "it was great to meet you, too"

I thank her about five different ways Then Justin drives over and honks

Our time is up

Amy Tran’s parents haven’t called the police They haven’t even gotten home yet I check the house phone’s voice that’s happened all day

Day 5998

So So This body has slept until noon Because this body was up late, getting high And noants to be high again Right away

I’ve been in the body of a pothead before I’ve woken up still drunk froht before But this is worse Much worse

There will be no school forme up I am on my own, in a dirty room, sprawled on a dirty mattress with a blanket that looks like it was stolen fro in other rooms of the house

There comes a time when the body takes over the life There coes, the body’s needs, dictate the life You have no idea you are giving the body the key But you hand it over And then it’s in control You e

I have only had glimpses of this before Now I really feel it I can feelthe body But it’s not easy I cannot sense pleasure I have to cling to the e that I ah

I try to go back to sleep, but the body won’t let me The body is awake now, and it knohat it wants

I knohat I have to do, even though I don’t really knohat’s going on Even though I have not been in this situation before, I have been in situations before where it’s been ainst the body I have been ill, seriously ill, and the only thing to do is to power through the day At first I thought there was sole day that couldbetter But very soon I learned ed in a day, especially not when the real e

I don’t want to leave the roo and anyone can happen Desperately, I look around for soh There is a decrepit bookshelf, and on it is a selection of old paperbacks These will save me, I decide I open up an old thriller and focus on the first line Darkness had descended on Manassas, Virginia…

The body does not want to read The body is alive with electric barbed wire The body is telling me there is only one way to fix this, only one way to end the pain, only one way to feel better The body will killThe body deic

I read the next sentence

I lock the door

I read the third sentence

The body fights back My hand shakes My vision blurs

I ath to resist this

I have to convince myself that Rhiannon is on the other side I have to convince h the body is telling me it is