made just for me.
My bottomless pool,
filled with salt from the sea.
When it rattles, my eyes swim,
overflowing, just for me.
It likes to remind me
won’t let me forget
that I can’t
I can’t stand
I can’t stand on
my own two feet.
My eyes whip behind me when I hear it—snapping twigs and crunching leaves. The sounds are amplified now that the rain has stopped.
A pressure throbs right between my shoulder blades.
I know who it is, but if I listen carefully, it could almost be her. Trying to catch up. I push myself harder—so hard I choke on air. She’s always been faster, but I got a head start.
I ignore the voice calling my name, telling me to stop. Mom would never tell me to stop.
When a hand clutches my shoulder, I shriek, tripping and falling backward. Landing on my ass, panting and livid. Benji leans forward, hands on his knees, scruffy face right in front of me, and a growl moves up my throat.
“Dude.” He raises his palms in surrender, trying to catch his breath. “Calm down. I asked you to stop, like, a million times.”
“I didn’t want to stop!”
“So, what? You were just going to run forever?”
I swallow, turning my forearm to examine the scrapes on my skin. “Yes.”
His shoulders fall with his sigh, and he lowers beside me, bending his knees and resting his elbows on them. “Missed you, Blues McGoose.”
I sniff. “Missed you too.”
“Nah, you built a whole life out there.” He knocks my knee with his. “Bet you didn’t even wanna come back.”
He smirks when I don’t answer, and I finally meet his gaze.
“What do you want, Benji?” I whisper. Guilt stabs me as his smile slips, but not enough for me to apologize. I just want to be alone.
He shifts, reaches into his back pocket, and pulls out an envelope. “Yesterday morning, when your mom stopped by, she told me to give this to you. Said you’d be coming.”
He drops the envelope on my lap, and I let out an uneven breath.
“I’m sorry, Blues,” he says quietly. “I’m so sorry.”
“How’d you find out?” I croak.
He uses the back of his hand to brush tangled locks from his face. “Ah, well ... the cops. When they found her, you know, they came to her cottage, and my dad was already out front watering her plants.”
