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"Yeah, right You totally do it, like, every night" Luke’s girlfriend, Violet, strolls out of the bedroo her red and black hair into a ponytail "Don’t think I don’t see you"

"You’re giving away all of my secrets" I wink at her

She rolls her eyes as she drops down on Luke’s lap, and his arms instantly wrap around her "That’s totally not true You have soto talk anymore about me and my secrets, I relax in the sofa and reach for the re Pu out The , but when the roorab my notebook and iPod from the coffee table and sneak outside to s lost et out what I need to say, even if it’s only to a piece of paper

The outside air has a little nip to it I zip up my jacket and settle down into my private spot in the apart sunlight nestled between the bushes and below a ros I get situated as I pop ht up a cigarette, recline against the wall, and tipto catch a gliirl who threw a flurry of torn papers down onto be taped together and read

I hadn’t meant to take them, but then I picked one up and read as on it--perfection doesn’t exist I suddenly found ible pieces:

But then there was my brother

My brother, he was different

He was the cloud that cast shadows

and darkness over our hoht

he danced with the devil

That under the stars and moon

he stripped himself bare

for the whole world to behold

They said he was a rebel

Trouble

Broken

He diluted our perfection

I swear to God, it was as if theabout me Who the hell was she? And how could she write such relatable words?

I’d been ed to run into her on the stairway And, holy shit, did I run into her

E to the point where ination instantly conjured up hot, sweaty sex scenes starring her andthe papers back But before I could give them to her, she took off, probably because et E her Not in a creeper sort of way or anything; I’ve just made an effort to study her frorass and writes in a notebook

She looks lost in her writing as she guides the pen across the paper, so into her thoughts There was one day when a guy nearly ran over her while playing catch, and she didn’t so lance up, coes

I also discovered she likes to run Everyoff across the parking lot Some days, she pauses near the carport for a few moments and just stares out in the distance, as if she’s drifted into a daydrea about when she does it Who she’s thinking of Herself or another? Perhaps a boyfriend?

Okay,at herfor a while, I finally give up and press the pen to the paper as nicotine drenches my blood Some days, I write about my double life So about my past before I lost my voice

I’ve alondered what it would be like

to walk out of the shadows

and into the sunlight

I’ve always been one of those people

the clouds hover over

and shoith storms

It started when I was born

My mother had no idea how to hold me

Feed me