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Prologue

Luke

(Eight years old)

I hate running, but it always see to hide I hide just as s will happen Like getting found Or getting forced to do things thatforced to help her

"Cos as I run out the front door ofher ain She takes her medication a lot and it doesn’t make any sense to et sick Whenever she takes it, it seems to make her sicker

She used to not be like this, well not as bad anyway About a year ago, when my dad was still around she would act norh, she does it a lot and I think shecrazy At least she seems that way co up ether My friends are always glad to see them and they don’t run and hide from them, like I do all the ti away fro forfor me and I hate when she does--hate her so me I usually hide underneath the bed or in the closet or so me quicker lately, so today I decided to hide outside

As Ito catch h roo boards and hide underneath it I pull ainst ht sparkles through the cracks in the wood and down on me I’ht see me, too

I scoot back, closer to the bottoht, and then I hold es creak

"Luke," my mom says from up on the top step She shuffles across the wood in her slippers and the screen door bangs shut "Luke, are you out here?"

I tuck h I want to cry--she’ll hearme better and I don’t like when she does that I don’t like a lot of things she does and horong shedown the stairs I peek up at her through the cracks and see her pink furry slippers The sarettes it, like it’s a song to so Soame that I always lose

The stairs creak as she sloalks down to the bottoround and all over my head A few land into keepso loudly as my palms sweat

Finally, after what seems like forever, she turns around and heads up the stairs back to the house "Fine, have it your way, then," she says

It’s never my way and I know better than to think so That’s why I stay still even after the screen door shuts I barely breathe as the wind blows and the sunlight diray before I peek up through the cracks in the stairs If I hadunder the stairs, but I’ry and tired

I can’t see or hear her anymore so I lean forward, poke my head out from under the stairs The coast looks clear so I put et to my feet and brush the dirt and the rocks offa deep breath, I run around to the side of the house and hurry quickly up the fence line until I make it to the front yard

I’ve never liked where we live that rass always looks yellow and all the houses look like they need to be repainted My mom says it’s because we’re poor and this is all we can afford thanks tous and that he doesn’t care and that’s why he never comes to seelies Like how she proain that this will be the last tis I don’t want to do

I stand in the front yard for a while, figuring out where to go I could clih ets hoe lately and gets annoyed whenever I talk to her She’s lucky because mom never seems to notice her as much as she notices me I don’t knohy I dothe house clean and organized like she likes it I keep quiet I stay in ories, just the way she likes the for me But Amy seems invisible to her

She’s so lucky I wish I were invisible

I decide to go for a walk down to the gas station at the corner where I can get a candy bar or soer But asopen

"Luke, get in here right now," she says in a frenzy, snapping her fingers and pointing to the ground below her feet "I need you"