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It’s ht reflected in the relieved faces of the girls around an that he’s zeroed in onup a bird he’s shot out of the sky I can’t believe it I don’t want to believe that it’s me

My ht The sudden shift fro bully to--to this actually tilts my world It’s a soft, delicate touch, and so vile I think et away from it I don’t knohat to do--I knohat I want to do Screaive in to the burn of bile in my throat I’ve been hit so many times it’s never occurred to me that this kind of touch could be that much worse than the pain The hand slides aroundmy head to the side Vanessa’s face disappears as she turns away, letting a cloud of curling dark hair protect her What does she have to be afraid of? It has taken years for us to see the pattern of his interest, the careful process of his selection Lastduty with another Green cabin, a girl whispered to us about what happened to her bunkmate While I am in the room, there will be no one else to him Only, the attention fro cruelty to so like this

"Work faster" His voice makes me think of the way condensation collected on walls of my parents’ unfinished base is so bad, you don’t feel the cold drip until it’s already on your skin You can’t avoid it

I see his reflection in the screen of the next phone I pick up His body is hot and daht of his face How can someone who looks so normal, like the man who’d delivered our mail each afternoon, be this way? I want to knohat hole he crawled out of, and how I can send hi this happen, from above, from around me I feel their eyes, can sense the attention in the roo ainst ht on its heels It’s the stupidest thing in the world, I know it is, but I a it

When I still don’t react, he grabsit back up into the air "Search!" he calls out, clearly delighting in the word "Assistance!"

It was quiet in the Factory before, but now I can actually hear the rain bleeding through the cracks in the ceiling Rain and sleet slash against the walls and glass overhead, washing against the trying to get air to my chest Before today, I would have stood there and just taken it, but I kno that there’s so he wants to see

He’d lie aboutfro and shred of defense I have left in front of everyone When ere kids, this was nothing A female PSF would lead us to the far corner of the room and stand over us as we took off our unifor I’ forward I see one in the rafters, older, thick at the waist, and she’s watching this all play out with a pinched look on her face She isn’t walking toward the stairs None of them are

But they don’t look surprised

So he starts the process for the my shirt the rest of the way out ofaround and bue hih irls I won’t fight back Ava is watching me with eyes that are pools of helpless horror, and I realize, with sudden clarity, that if it were any one of the i to have made it stop I need to do the sa Before the Green girl told us, we’d heard whispers in the wash houses and out in the Garden I knohat language his touch is trying to speak, and I feel old Saets to believe that I won’t fight

I know that pride is a sin, but I would rather be dead than let him--any of them--think for one more second he’s allowed to do this to ain, I don’t hesitate I drive both elbows back into his gut, catching hiuard I know it doesn’t hurt him--that’s why I throw my head back and make sure to nail hi, spinning, reckless with delight in the sed to take back

Vanessa and Ava both screa toward us and I realize thatfro in my skull, but I can’t feel any pain I barely hear Tildon when he starts cussing and spitting out one vile word after another A PSF stands a short distance aith bugged-out eyes, looking between us and a soldier talking into his radio, saying, No, and, Cal around to face Tildon as he gasps out, "Littlebitch!"

He’s clutching his nose, the words ers and blood He fumbles for the small White Noiseit away I feel a thousand feet high, like I could land another hit on him before the soldiers in black reach me So, I do I haul my hand back and slap hiers at the last second The nails I’ve broken working day after day in this Factory cut into the slick, fleshy part of his cheek The breath goes out of hi down his lips sprays out, sending a fine mist of it onto my sweatshirt