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But I’d learned long ago that curling up and crying did nothing That was my mother’s solution Endlessunless I forced her to The dead-eyed look of a woiven up

Co home from school that day to find her passed out lifeless on the floor, pills scattered all around her

I clenched my jaw

Never

I’d never give up

So I forgot about trying to hold onto the stupid slippers and just ran I ran through the woods even though rocks and sticks sliced at the tender soles of one

I forced the pain from my head, and I shoved branches out of the way I pushed on when I had no more push left in me

And when I heard noises behind me, the call of voices and a sharp whistle, I ran harder still

They were gaining on me

I couldn’t keep this up They had real shoes I looked all around and, in the distance, solinted Goddammit, it was the lake

But from the noise behind me, I had to assume most of them were in the forest They obviously knew this here I was

And really, as there to lose?

So I headed for the glint Getting out of the forest was a relief even as I felt a double rush of freedom fro out in the open

At least fro One quick look behindme yet I dropped to my knees and climbed the last few feet to the lake and slipped into the cool water

I was overheated froh the ly cold at the sa into the water

When all of a sudden, the bank underneathto just… I don’t knoade in and stay on my hands and knees—definitely where I could touch It hadn’t been much of a plan to start with, but—

But as I flailed in the water, I didn’t give a shit about stealth anymore I couldn’t touch the bottom Oh shit, I couldn’t touch the bottom!