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Pete

HE STOOD POISED on the edge of a sheet of glass Barefoot Perfectly balanced One foot in front of the other Arlass went down and down and down forever Like a shilass was thin, so thin it ht cut hie was a thin ribbon of rainbow reflecting bright reds and greens and yellows

On one side of the glass, darkness On the other, jarring, disturbing colors

He could see things down there on the right side, down below his right hand, beyond the reach of his fingers Down there were his es and harsh noises that made him want to clap his hands over his ears When he looked at those things, those people, the wobbly, insubstantial houses, the sharp-edged furniture, the claw hands and hooked noses and staring, staring, staring eyes and yelling mouths, he wanted to close his eyes

But it didn’t work Even through his closed eyes he saw them And he heard the colors Sometimes their words weren’t words at all but brilliant parrot-colored spears shooting from their mouths

Mother father sister teacher other Lately only sister and others Saying things Soot Pete Petey Little Pete He knew those words And sometimes there were soft words, soft like kittens or pillows and they would float from his sister and he would feel peace for a while until the next jangling, shrieking noise, the next assault of stabbing color

On his left, down, down below the endless sheet of glass, a very different world Quiet, ghostly things drifted silently, shades of gray No hard edges, no loud sounds No horrible colors toIt was dark and so very, very quiet

Down there was a softly glowing orb, like a faint green sun It would reach out to him sometimes A tendril A mist It would touch him as he stood balanced, one foot in front of the other, hands at his side

Peace Quiet Nothingness It would whisper these thoughts to hiaa But the last game Pete had played with the Darkness had turned harsh and overbright It had suddenly stabbed Pete with arrows in his brain It had broken the galass had shattered But nohole again, and he balanced on top and as if it was sorry the soft green sun said, Come down here and play, in its whispery voice

On the other side--the agitated, jangly, hard side--his sister, her face a stretched littery white, loud, was pushing at hiet this sheet out from under you It’s soaked"

Pete understood some of the words He felt the hardness of theeness An alienness So s, that pulled his focus away frolass on which he balanced

It came from the place he never looked: inside hi outside himself He looked down at his body, puzzled by it Yes: that was the new voice, the insistent note, the de even than the soft ly words of his sister His body was dea," his sister said "You’re burning up I’ to take your temperature"