Page 5

I don’t get it.

My fingers tighten around the crumpled sheet of paper I’ve forgotten I’m holding. It’s covered in scattered lyrics and a half-finished song. The only thing I’ve ever made that belongs to me. I cling to it like an anchor as a strange warmth spreads through my chest.

When the icy blonde finally stops in front of me, the tip of her glittering silver shoe brushes against my torn, filthy sock.

I feel like disappearing.

Someone like her has probably never seen a kid like me before.

A boy with blood on his knuckles and bruises blooming beneath his shirt. A boy barely able to stand.

Feeling ashamed, I brace myself for the look I know so well.

Pity.

Disgust.

Fear.

Instead…she simply looks at me like I’m a book she’s just pulled from a shelf and can’t quite figure out.

No judgment.

Just honey-colored eyes studying me as though I’m... interesting.

How old even is she?

Her brother and sister look older.

I bet she’s younger than me.

She’s one tiny thing, too. The top of her snowy head barely reaches my chest.

“What’s your name?” Her husky voice cuts through the silence.

Flat and bored.

Yet…it’s the gentlest thing I’ve ever heard. Her voice feels like stepping into sunlight after a lifetime of winter.

Lost in my head, I can only stare at her.

Wait…what did she ask?

I blink, trying to shake off whatever spell her eyes have cast on me.

Oh.

Right.

My name.

But names are dangerous.

Names can find you.

Names can drag you right back into hell.

I swallow hard trying to think of a way out of this.