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She sobbed again and spoke a small whimper, a sound so terrible, so hopeless, and then, she placed the barrel against the side of her head, which now no longer showed the wound, the wound that was co if she didn’t—

BANG!

The noise was so much louder than in movies I felt as if I’d been struck physically I felt that sound in my bones and my teeth, in my heart

Samantha’s head jerked

Her hand fell away, limp and blood-spattered

Blood sprayed from the hole for a moment, then slowed to an insidious, vile pulsation

She reun fell and the blood poured and then, at last, she fell onto her side, smeared red over the pastel floral print of her comforter, and rolled to the floor, a heap on the carpet

The gunshot rang in my ears On and on

“I don’t like this drea the panic that rose in me

The boy in black said nothing He just looked and when I turned to hiust Sie His pale lips trembled A muscle in his jaitched

He crossed abruptly, his first sudden movement, to the desk in the corner of the room There was a laptop computer open to Facebook There were school books, a notebook, a Disney World cup holding pencils, a dozen colorful erasers in various shapes, a tube of acne raph of Sa

There was a piece of paper, held down at the four corners by tiny glass figures of fancifully colored ponies The paper had been torn from the notebook

The boy in black looked down at the paper and said nothing He looked at it for far longer than it could have taken to read the feords written there in blue ink I knew, for I, too, read the words

I love you all I am so sorry

But I can’t anymore