The Words We Keep

My heart is pumping too fast.

My whole body is pumping too fast. Like my brain and my blood and my bones are short-circuiting, spilling over with excess electricity. My body is too small to contain it.

My skin is too small to contain me.

I don’t know how long or how far I run. The houses around me are unfamiliar. I’m lost in a strange land.

My mind races. The images play like flashes in an old-timey movie reel.

Flash!

Margot screams. Her older sister claws herself to pieces.

Flash!

Dad in the principal’s office, so disappointed.

Flash!

Micah in handcuffs.

Flash!

Alice on the bathroom floor.

Tumbling down a cliff.

The monsters sing in unison:

Better off without you.

Better off without you.

Better off without you.

Ridgeline Underground

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UPDATE: Micah says they’ve found Lily’s phone and a note that indicates she may be in danger. If anyone has any information, please message. Her family is v. worried.

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Praying

Did you check the loony bin?

She wasn’t at school today!

I saw her running earlier.

Where and when?

An hour ago? My neighborhood.

I saw her, too. Maybe 20 minutes or so

Headed toward the ocean