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In the end, it all co too fast I knew that And I wasn’t watching the road when I should have been Lexi saw it first That the turn was too sharp and I was going too fast She screamed I swerved There was a crunch as we collided with another car And then just like that, everything that once existed, lives, breaths, heartbeats, were gone And I was left with blood on my hands

Finally, after what seems like hours, Iin the sun, shriveling and cracking I search for Dylan, and when I can’t find hiate with a group of guys and girls who I’ve never , he hops off the tailgate, his forehead i as he takes in the reckless state I’,from head to toe with fear, desire, and need

"What the fuck’s wrong?" he says with a joint pinched in his finger

"I need so hard," I say

"Why?" he asks "What’s wrong? Why do you look so upset?"

"Nothing’s wrong, and I won’t look upset once I get so that h Tristan may dither consciously for a second, but when it all cos always conquer

He nods his head at one of the larger tents near the edge of the tent area "Co, wavy black hair and crooked teeth Her breasts are popping out of her black sleeveless dress and she’s looking et a taste I think later, when I’m nuht, and guilt creeps inside uilty of a lot of other terrible things, worse than hooking up with soirl

"Hurry," I tell Tristan,solitude Now

He nods, and I practically ht in as if we both belong there And we do I do

There are these greasy, cracked-out-looking guys inside and a girl with her top off, s what looks like a joint in the corner But I know it’s not a joint by the dazed look on her face She’s gone Hollowed out by the toxic smoke Whoever she was before all of this only exists in a locked box inside her head, and she probably can’t even reet it open This place doesn’t even exist to her, and I want to be where she is because I don’t want to feel it any is lost I want to leave I want to escape

Really, what I want to do is die

"We need a hit," Tristan tells a guy with a ponytail sitting in the middle of the tent with his shirt unbuttoned and his shoes off He hands hi her drift further and further away froht where I want to be Gone Gone Gone

Nonexistent

When she turns her head inbehind it and I’m envious of her I hat she has I want

Nothing

The guy takes the irl, who groggily rolls on her side, her ar her eyes, until there’s nothing left but large lazed over and bare

Euy says, handing it to Tristan, like it o somewhere else

Tristan nods and puts the joint to his lips Taking a long hit, his pupils instantly dilate, his breathing quiets and evens out, and he relaxes back on his elbows, handing the joint toleadsis here