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AFTER

JULY 23

Nick

"It still works, you know"

I haven’t realized I’ve been staring up at the Gateway until Alice co a foot in the paint tray

She pushes a strand of hair back from her forehead with the inside of her wrist Her face is flushed, and it ht brown, nearly yellow "The Gateway," she says, jerking her chin toward the huge ets it inspected every suain I think he feels bad, you know, like as long as the Gateway stays off-liirl’s death, I s, scratching the tattoo below her left ear with one blue-paint-splattered finger

When we’re not working the rides today, everyone on shift has been tasked with concealing evidence of last night’s vandalisraffiti cans went around decorating various signs around the park with crude illustrations of a certain part of theI later heard this happens at least once a summer

"He petitions the park advisory department every year" Alice sits down on a small plastic bench shaped like a tree stu, always directing things and calling out orders and laughing Earlier today I saw her cliet to a kid’s backpack that had so, spiderlike, between structural supports, while a sathered, soet down, others scouting for Mr Wilcox and Donna

I watched Parker watching her, head tilted up to the sky, hands on his hips, eyes sparkling, and felt--what? Not jealousy, exactly Jealousy is a strong feeling, a feeling that twists your stonaws your insides to shreds This wastiet used to it

Did he ever look at Dara like that? Does he still?

I don’t know All I know is that he used to be my best friend, and now he doesn’t look atto ht, seized by an old impulse, I went up to the attic just to check on her and saw she’d added a new sign to her door Made of pale-green construction paper and decorated with hearts and badly drawn butterflies, it read simply: DON’T EVEN FUCKING THINK ABOUT IT