Ashley Needles

Love was stupid. Love was a delusion of deranged people, used to excuse the most heinous behaviors. Besides even if love did exist, Lee would never love someone as silly and plain as I was. I was a blank slate. My only flair was my hips. "Ignore the mess, it's just where we hide the bodies." Chelle's eyes danced with wit. To her, her home wasn't a can of sewage spoiling in the sun, it was normal. She was comfortable. Lee chuckled and Chelle emerged from her cocoon gleaming. "What do you like to do for fun?" Lee's hand stroked the curve of my side, his fingers dipped into the waist of my pants. 'Sex,' his body stated but his lips said, "Read mostly." Lee's eyes caressed my face, neck, and traveled down to my pelvis. What exactly did he mean by that? Was I an open book to him? We still hadn't talked about Senecca, about the rumors. "What do you like to read?" Even as I asked, Chelle's eyes narrowed...

That night searching through a swirling mist ridden darkness, crying out his name, fear wrapped icy hands around my heart. Waking, uneasiness churned and the temptation to call, see if he was okay nearly overwhelmed me. Instead of embarrassing myself though, I was quick to get to school. Bare hallways had yet to come alive. A few students haunted the commons, the sound of their footsteps echoed. Each pretended the others didn't exist. A baffling behavior. Humans, social creatures, meant being alone in high school flashed a neon sign of 'There is something wrong with you,' in giant letters over your head. The lack of exchanged pleasantries and avoidance of eye contact would have been humorous if it weren't so sad. Afraid to say, "Hi," afraid of rejection or of stepping outside the lines, I smiled at each of them and watched as one by one they scampered away as though my smile were anthrax.  A bus arrived. The loners looked up, hoping for frien...