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I lean forward to tap his shoulder As I do, I glimpse the rest of his face in the rearview ums and cheeks is clearly visible It’s like half of his face has been skinned off of hi skeleton His eyes stare straight atmy reaction

I freeze I want to jerk back, but he’s watching me His eyes are not those of a monster They are the eyes of a e and pull away fro a sound My hand still hovers above his shoulder I hesitate for two breaths, then gently put my hand on his shoulder to tap him

‘Excuse me,’ I say ‘Can you hear me?’ I continue to look at him in the mirror to let him know that I saw his face

His shoulder feels solid, the way a shoulder should feel That’s a relief, both for els have created, but a regular noreif I should ignore the elephant in the car or if I should ask hi time with my sister’s friends, I know that people with disabilities soet it over with, while other times, they want to be treated noret on with business

‘Where are we going?’ I keep

‘You’ve got the wrong girl, you know Lots of people have weapons Just because I had a sword doesn’tfor’

He continues to drive

‘Okay, I get it But do you really believe the angels will give you safe passage? Even if they don’t kill you today, hoill you know they won’t kill you next week? It’s not like every angel will get a notification with your picture that says you’ve captured the girl they wanted’

The big band

‘What’s your name?’

No response

‘Do you think you could slon a little? Maybe a lot? Maybe even stop for just a teensy second and lethere Co then?’ His voice is harsh and full of anger

It’s hard to understand hiuess it’s not easy to talk when your lips have been ripped off It takes me a minute to translate what I heard

I haveout what soe had a couple of friends with disabilities that kept the easily It was her patience with her friends and her translations that finally allowedthe with us,’ I say ‘The hu? That I belong with the huht away

The driver glances up at the mirror in surprise He didn’t expect me to understand him He probably spoke just to scare h he’s wondering if I’ a trick on him

‘The human race doesn’t want ot lucky in understanding his that Raffe won’t say about himself and his own situation Does Raffe think of hiels?