“Splsh!” The noise was amplified and echoing around in what could only be described as a giant fish bowl, but the walls themself felt like some strange type of jello. No matter how many times I smashed against the fish bowl though, it made no difference. “Just (splsh) let (splsh) me (splsh) go!” I sank down the wall of the dome and whimpered into my knees. “Just let me go,” but the voice barely carried out, and died away along with the rest of me.

Somewhere a speaker awoke, cranky and crunchy voiced, as though the lips brushed the microphone. “Emily, you know we can’t do that. There’s too much evidence, we know you’re not human.”

Acting surprised was pointless, but still worth trying. “What evidence could you have? I haven’t done anything! Anything!” My voice cracked through hiccupping sobs.

“Well, for a start, that wall you keep hitting is designed to burn skin, which means there’s clearly something- mutated in your D.N.A.” And with that the speaker died away once more, leaving me alone in the eerie silence.

For the first time since I was chucked into the fish bowl, I looked around. The place was done up like a wall-less house. In one- for lack of better words- room, was a whole kitchen strip that looked like it was torn straight off a wall, a metal table, capable of seating four with chairs included. Another room had a twin bed, a bedside table with a lamp, and a clothing rack full of white patient t-shirts that were likely single use and matching pants, just like the ones I was currently wearing. Another room, the bathroom, had a shower box, sink, and, luckily with a door, bathroom stall. The fish bowl itself was spotlessly white and aggravatingly reflective of the bright white lights on the ceiling. I took a step toward the bedroom, and realized how cold and hard the ground was, as if they gave up on the efforts to make the place seem comfy, or like it was once an absolute prison cell, and they just redecorated for me. I walked across over to the bed and flopped onto it, deeply regretting it instantly afterwards, for it was just as hard and cold as the floor was. This isn’t right. This will never feel right. In the corner of the room was a desk with a single pencil, not sharp enough to be dangerous, and a stack of paper. I started writing


List of requested items:
•
My sketching supplies
•
Normal clothes
•
My photo of my mom
•
Movies
•
Diaries of Mckeyla series
•
My phone
•
My skateboard
•
UGGS
•
My kitty, Leche

That last one was a stretch but worth a shot. I put the list on the kitchen counter then went to the bed. You’ve really done it this time, Emily. I whispered to myself. Two tears fell down my cheeks, causing a few strands of dark brown hair to become stuck to my freckled face. More sobs, more whimpers, more regret and misery. And with that, I fell asleep.

“You have to promise. Okay?” I said, sounding every bit as serious and stern as the situation called for.

“Okay, okay! Now will you show me?” Sarah’s face was lit up like the fourth of July, as it always was.

“I don’t think you realize what a big risk I’m taking showing you this,” I said, regretting telling her anything in the first place already.

“I get it! I get it!” She said bouncing up and down, her long blonde hair trailing a half second behind her. “Now will you just show me?”
“Okay just-“ I tried to find the right words. “Just don’t freak out, okay?” I held her by the wrist and closed my eyes. She started to scream. My eyes opened and it was as though I was looking at a broken mirror, where my reflection didn’t follow my actions. Sarah stood, horror struck, wearing my face and looking mortified at me. Reaching for a mirror on my bedside table, I looked at myself. Sarah’s reflection looked back at me, blonde hair and all. I passed the mirror to her, she looked at it only a moment before it slipped from her fingers and shattered.
Her hand was being shoved to me. “Change me back! Change me back!” She yelled, her breath heavy and yet coming out in short bursts.

“Okay!” I said somewhat shocked, though not knowing what I expected. “Okay! Okay! Hold still!” I grabbed her wrist and changed her back. The second I did. She pulled in back and got to her feet. “Sarah I-“
“No.” She cut me off. “You’re a freak.” And with that last word echoing around in my mind, my friend, who I had known since I was a toddler pulled out a phone and ran from the room. I was alone with the shattered mirror. From downstairs I could faintly hear Sarah. “Hello, 911?”

I woke out of breath, my face coated in a sheet of sweat. The room was pitch black. I wanted to tell myself it was just a dream, that it never happened, but it did. It happened two days ago, and it was why I was in the fish bowl, alone, only this time I didn’t have a broken mirror as company, but instead a broken spirit. I went back to sleep.



Sleep did come, but no dreams, and it felt like it lasted a minute before a stunningly bright light snapped on right above me so I had to squint and cover my eyes just to turn my head. The speaker said in a piercing loud voice, “Breakfast.”
Surely enough, on the table was a bowl of soggy corn flakes, a plastic cup, filled halfway with orange juice, and a piece of paper. “You know I can’t eat this, right?” I said holding up the cereal and talking to the empty room around me.
“And why is that, miss Thompson?”
I tried to grin victoriously, but considering I was being held captive in a cell, the expression didn’t quite fit, and I wasn’t too convincing. “I thought that you would at least have the decency to do a background check on your highest security prisoners, even if they aren’t quite sure why their there, its nice to know you’ll be cared for during your stay.”
“ You sure seem perky for a girl who may never see natural sunlight again.”
“Unlikely. I’m innocent, when you run your stupid test and prick needles into me, you’ll still have nothing but Sarah’s word I’m different.” That was a straight up lie; if they took samples I probably would be in this cell a good while longer.

“We will find out tomorrow, when we do blood testing diagnostics. Regardless, why can you not eat your meal?
“I’m lactosentolerant.” No sooner had I said it than a large metal pipe stretched out from a wall with a large pallet and came toward me.
“Place cereal on plate, a replaced version will arrive momentarily.” I did so, and the metal arm reeled back into the cabinet, but was only gone from sight for a moment before it returned with a new bowl of cereal. I was about to start when the speaker spoke once more. “Your hair, if I recall correctly, was not blonde yesterday.”
I was horror struck, as a few hair strands slipped into view, and were lovely blonde just like Sarah’s. It must have changed in my sleep. Thinking quick I pretended to drop my spoon and dove under the table for it. “Perhaps that’s just the lighting, to me it still looks the same light brown as normal,” I said, even though it was normally quite dark. Under the table I made it slightly darker, but not enough to be significant, then slowly made it get dark and darker till it had the look of sun-bleached brunet.
I tried not to look like I was enjoying the meal, even though I was starved and the food didn’t taste exactly like what a prisoner received. After I had finished the orange juice and only crumbs and powder were left at the bottom of the bowl, I took a glance at the paper.

List of requested items:
•
My sketching supplies Granted
•
Normal clothes

Denied
•
My photo of my mom granted
•
Movies


denied
•
Diaries of Mckeyla series granted
•
My phone

denied
•
My skateboard denied
•
UGGS



denied
•
My kitty, Leche granted

I stared at it for a moment. I wasn’t that interested about the books or pencils, but at that last one I had put on there as a wish more than request. “When do I get Leche?” I said, not taking my eyes from the paper. A noise sounded around the fish bowl like an oven signifying it had finished baking, followed by a meow, and only then did I turn. “Leche!” I got down on my knees and he wandered over, purring softly.
Leche was a lovely cat, who, despite being 4, looked like a kitten. Stunningly white with mix color paws, tail, and face, he wore his blue eyes proud and rubbed himself against anything that would reply saying how soft he was. Though he was proud. He was no traitor, and refused to warm up to anybody I didn’t like.
“He gave us some good cuts in the process.” Said the voice.
“Thank you,” I said, to the voice, though I made a mental note to treat Leche to an extra treat later for his good work.
The rest of my things came through out the day, although not in their best shape. All my art supplies had been disorganized, the leads were unsharpened, and the sharpener was missing. My mother’s picture was also worse for wear, seeing as it must have gone through various tests to be delivered. Nevertheless, the fish bowl now felt, even if by a small amount, more like a home.

The next morning another piece of paper was sitting beside my breakfast. I sat down and Leche jumped into my lap, meowing vigorously as he yearned for my bacon.

Experiment 626 blood diagnostics report. Reference name: Emily Thompson.
Age 15. Accused of inhuman capabilities.

D.N.A patterns change at unstable rates.

Molecular density changes depending on current state

These chemical changes are not humanly possible, or should not be. Further diagnostics to come.

That was it then. I was never getting out of the fish bowl.




Sandpaper rubbed against my cheek. “Five more minutes Leche.” I think it’s a Saturday. Leche responded with a disapproving meow. “Oh yeah Leche, you’re right.” I said, righting myself on my bed and scratching Leche behind the ears, making him purr like a jet engine. “Today is our one month anniversary of being held hostage! Happy Anniversary!” I said lifting up Leche who made a small verbal retaliation. I got out of bed and went to the kitchen to fill up Leche’s food bowl and got some eggs from the fridge. (After the first week I had to start making my own meals). I tossed a pan on the electric stove, cracked the eggs, and turned on the T.V, which only had movies. I popped in the Breakfast Club and mouthed the words while I scrambled yolks.
I had just started walking toward the table when I heard the high security doors open. It was like watching a rewind tape of my first day. A girl, around the age of 8, was shoved through the doors and fell in a heap onto the ground, and the doors closed. Just like me, the girl ran back at the door and started banging it with he fist. “Let me out! Let me out! Please! I’m just a kid! Let me- ahhhhh!” Tears that had already been smudging her burning face began to double, not from sadness but from pain, as she stared at her hands, red and making a terrible sizzling sound.
Abandoning my eggs, I raced over to her, but this seemed to make matters worse. She thrashed in my arms with all the force of an alligator, screaming things like “you can’t do this to me again!” And “I’ll never go back.” I tried to spin her around so she could see my face. Which caught her for a minute before she continued to thrash around like a maniac.
“It’s ok! It’s ok! I’m going to help you! I’m not with them! I’m going to help!” I said, and she let out a truly gruesome wail, making me realize my hand was squeezing hers and puss was coming from the crevasses between my fingers. Within ten seconds I was there and back from the sink with a wet towel running over to the girl who was about to run straight back at the wall, bloody fist held high, but I grabbed them before she could hurt herself any more, and pulled her onto a chair, then as if a universal mute button was pressed, she stopped crying, and was staring blankly at something near my bedroom. When I looked her way, I saw Leche, wandering over stealthily.

“That’s Leche,” I said, thankful my ears could rest again. “If you let me clean your hands you can pet him.” She said nothing but showed me her damaged palms. “So why are you here?” I said, trying to keep the conversation flowing as I clean her hands. She looked up at me startled.
“Nothing!” She said, scared. “I’m normal! There’s nothing wrong with me! I-“
“Don’t worry,” I said, and I leaned in. “I’m a little different too.” I paused she seemed unconvinced. _____“I’ll show you my stuff if you show me yours.”
She looked a little puzzled at first, but then stared intently at my eggs, which had spilt in a clash. Then, as she stared, the plate rose up and the eggs followed its lead. The inched up onto the table and landed neatly as though nothing had happened. I turned back to her, and she looked like she was about to be slapped.
“Telepathy, That was awesome!” I reassured her. “Why are you so nervous, that’s a great talent!” She positively beamed.
“My mama doesn’t like it when I use my power to do things. Says if people will see I’ll be thrown in the loony bin. She was right. A girl in my class rated me out a few days ago.” She had a few tears in her eyes but held them back. I held some back too.
“Were not crazy, People just don’t understand us, so they try to, but that just makes things more complicated. I’m Emily. What’s your name?”
“Jackie. So why are you here? What’s your ability?” I thought about it for a second, then I covered he palms with mine. She winced a little. I closed my eyes, after opening them I took back my hands.
“Oh look, your all better,” I gave her a wink, and she whispered back.
“You can heal people?” she said
“No, I can change how people look. Like, if I wanted blue eyes…” I shut my hazel eyes tight and opened them back up. Based on her look of astonishment, they were now blue.
“Are there-“ she paused. “More of us?”
She asked a question I had been asking myself for a long time. After a long moment I said, “Yes, I think there are.” She smiled, and we stared at each other for a long time. “Well Jackie, what would you like for breakfast, I don’t think we should eat those eggs off the floor. Want cereal?”
“I can’t drink milk,” She said, and even though my back was turned, I grinned widely.
“Toast then?”
“Can mine have jam?”
“You can have all the jam you want.


The rest of the day was spent playing with Leche, drawing, and playing tag. Even if I never had a sister, I knew an honorary sister when I met one. At the end of the day we made a fort out of sheets that I tucked her under. “Good night,” I said, about to crawl under a folded sheet that worked as a makeshift sleeping bag.
“Wait. Can you tell me a story?” Said Jackie.
“Oh, I don’t know,” I said, looking at the clock. “It’s awfully late, how about toma-“
“Please please please please!”
I sighed. “Oh all right. One story.” Jackie leapt onto my blanket heap. “Alright. Lets see. Once upon a time, a princess was born. Her family, the rulers of the land were very wealthy and very beloved by the whole kingdom, and they promised that on the princesses’ 18th birthday, she would become ruler of the land. Not everyone was happy about this, however. An evil witch wanted the crown for herself, so she cursed the girl with a terrible spell, so that when she were to touch something, it would catch on fire, when she would cry, everything her tears touched turned to stone, and when she laughed, the air became so thick people couldn’t breathe! But when she cursed the baby, something went wrong. Instead, the young princess could control what she did, so if she wanted to, she could fill a cup with water just by looking at it. If it was a cold night she could light a fire. If the air was foggy she could clear it. No one but the witch knew what a great gift the girl had received, and the princess grew up normally, although strange things did happen every once in a while.
“On the princesses’ 17th birthday, she realized her special talent, and she practiced it, then on her 18th birthday she announced it. She showed them how she could make water appear from thin air, and offered it to the poor, but they seemed afraid of drinking it. Then she cleared a cloud from the sky, but this only made them seem more scared. They didn’t understand her, so they feared her. They locked her up in a cell and took away her crown!”
“But that’s terrible! Why would they do that?” Said Jackie.
“Because they were afraid. Fear can make us do some terrible things. Things we don’t always do intentionally, but still do. Now back to the story, no more interruptions.”
“The princess made a plan. She used her ability of fire to make the cell door burn down and got out. She couldn’t go back to her kingdom though, so she hid in the mountains that overlooked her land and built a small cottage. One day, she woke up and smelt smoke. The kingdom was engulfed in flames! She ran down as fast as she could. Heroically, she cleared the smoke and made water appear than drenched the flames. Then she lead everyone to safety and they thanked her, and, realizing that she was not something to be feared, they made her their queen and they all lived happily ever after. The end.”
Jackie was half asleep in my arms. I kissed her on the head and brought her over to her bed, where I tucked her in. I was walking back when she said, “Emily?”
“Ya, Jackie?”
“You’re the princess. You’ve got to get us out of this. Okay?”
How should I respond? I can’t say no, but I can’t build up false confidence by saying yes. “I’ll try.” I snuggled into my blanket mound and Leche jumped on top as I drifted to sleep.

“Emily! Help! Help!” Jackie was screaming somewhere in the distance, then she got louder, until the fog of sleep cleared away and I whirled around to find Jackie. Two men in white suits where pulling her through the doors by her ankles. “Emily, don’t let them take me! Help!” She screamed and I raced across the room and pulled her back, adrenaline evening the strength between the guards and me. I couldn’t let her go. I don’t care if I had to be chained to a pole, she couldn’t be taken from me. Then one of them pulled a gun on me, for a moment I was shocked, but I kept fighting, silently wishing he was blushing. He wasn’t. A bullet was launched into my gut, just above the hipbone and I fell back. Jackie’s screams were the last thing I heard before everything went fuzzy, then blurry, then dark.
“She’s becoming conscious, doctor,” someone said. “Are you sure we can give her anesthetics?”
Another voice. “We can’t give her anything other than oxygen and water. We don’t know what will happen to her if we make any alterations to her molecular status.”
“Actually, I use Tylenol, and it usually works pretty well. I don’t think it can do much to a bullet wound though.” I said, and, even though my eyes weren’t open, I knew I shocked them a little.
“We apologize on the shooters behalf. He has been neutralized.”

Suddenly everything came back to me at once. My eyes opened and I sat bolt upright immediately. “Where is she?” I said. They looked baffled. “Where did they take her?” Nothing “Tell me before I do something crazy!” I said.

“Jackolynn is undergoing testing. She shouldn’t go through much pain, and she will be back later today,” the doctor said. I looked around. I was lying in the same spot as when I was shot.

“You can go.”
“Emily, you have suffered a nearly fatal wound, we cannot simply lea-“
I started to remove some of the tubes from myself. “Let me rephrase that. Go now before you both end up needing more pipes stuck in you than I do.” That was a more efficient way of saying it apparently, because they scrambled out quite quickly, and I realized they left the door open while they were in here. I had a plan.
Leche’s eyes followed me purposefully as I paced back and forth in front of the bed, occasionally jumping off or giving disapproving looks when I kicked it. Finally, after a long time of unbearable waiting. The doors opened, and Jackie walked in, alone, staring at the ground.
“Jackie!” I screamed and ran toward her. I immersed her in a hug, but she said nothing, and didn’t return my gesture, something was up. I released her and kneeled down so I was eye level with her. “Hey, what’s wrong?” I said calmly.
“They do things in that room that you can’t imagine. I would have rather been you, taking a bullet.”
“You would have died if you took a bullet.”
“I know.” And she walked away, her voice was emotionless and her walk was unsteady. I chased after her.
“You know, your right.” I said. She made no indication she heard me. “This place IS terrible. I say we leave right now.” I said, a little quieter so any hidden cameras didn’t overhear me. This got her attention.
“How?” she said
“We need a plan, but they can’t hear us. Get under the fort,” I said. And we both got under the tent like structure and I sealed it up. “I noticed that when someone’s hurt, like when I was, they leave the door open while they heal her. Now, I thought that if we fake an accident the next time they test you,” She shuttered a little. “Then I could break out through the open doors and once I’m out I’ll disguise myself as a doctor and go into your room, and make up some excuse to take you out of testing. We’ll find an exit and get out.” She seemed on board, but one hard truth needed to be said.
“Jackie, we can’t go back to where we came. We might be on the run for the rest of our lives, but we’ll have each other, and I have a bank account I can access and we can settle down somewhere after a while, even if we need to change the way we look so they wont find us. All I need is for you to say your okay with what ever happens outside those walls, that no matter what you remember the terrors this place has and promise to stay strong.” I looked deeply into her eyes. She nodded, and I smiled ear to ear. “Do you know when your next test is?”
“In one week. That gonna be just a right amount of time for us to practice.” She said, sounded much happier and alive than before.
And we did. I practiced making a big bruise appear under my right eye where I would be punched, practiced turning into a doctor, whom I realized would be too difficult and decided that I would resemble a nurse instead. Jackie all the while practiced punching me while being restrained and we even practiced head butts just in case.
Two days before the brake out while eating breakfast, Jackie suddenly dropped her fork onto the floor and stood up, running to the edge of the dome. She was inches from the fish bowl’s wall. Slowly she put her hand against the wall causing that same sizzling sound as before. “Jackie! Stop!” I screamed, getting out of my chair. Then the inexplicable happened. It was like there was a two second power outage that caused the dome to power down a little, and I could see through it, however faintly. Two girls were standing on the other side, one my age and the other around 10, maybe 11, and touching hands with Jackie. They stared at each other for a minute in silence, and then parted. The wall went back to full power and Jackie walked back and ate her breakfast like nothing had happened. “Well?” I stared in disbelief.
“Oh yah. We’ll meet them on the outside. Don’t worry, they’ll keep a secret.”
“How do you know them?”
She smiled so brightly and I felt I would die of anticipation. “Clementine’s my sister,” And she kept eating.

By the night before the testing, we had both become so convincing I would have fallen for it thinking that I accidently did get injured in the process of faking. Nevertheless, this was our only shot, and if we didn’t do everything just right, we would really never get out of this thing unless it was backdoor parole.
Morning came with screams and panic. I leapt out of bed and ran to Jackie who was struggling to keep one arm free. I was right in front of her making it a clear and easy shot. “I’m sorry!” I screamed. “I can’t stop them! You’ll be fine! Just go willingly!” All the while she screamed.
“You would save me if you cared! You don’t care! Your no better!” And then she threw her fist at me, and it actually did hit me slightly against the cheek, and looked real enough. I took my cue, and feel on the floor, grabbing my eye and cheek, turning them red and fleshy, making my eye swell black and my cheek bone bruise blue. Faintly through my fake screams and Jackie’s I heard one of the guards say, “we need doctors on floor 1 room 73.” And I faked unconsciousness.
“There must have been more to that punch than from a normal person, this bruising is serious.” It was the same nurse.
“The unconsciousness was likely stimulated from shock. She was close to that girl.”
“Do you think we should-“ I had to have them separated somehow.
“Water.” I croaked.
“I’ll get it,” the doctor said, and an alternate plan formed in my head. I opened my eyes. The doctor was halfway to the sink. The nurse, noticing I was awake leaned in close. I covered her mouth with one hand and hit a pressure point lethally with the other and he went unconscious. I grasped her wrist and switched faces. Then I pulled off her nurse hat and, relieved, saw she was wearing the same paper clothing as I was.
“Doctor, I think we should at the very least get her, was it, Tylenol I believe, that she said helped her.” I said in the nurse’s voice.
“Nurse that could be deadly. We can’t risk her death,” he said.
“There must be something we can use to help the poor girl,” I said, low on ideas.
“I suppose our liquid charger might alleviate some of the stress,” he said, returning with a glass of water.
“I can get it.” I said and I walked out of the room. Then I realized I had no clue where Jackie was. “Doctor, I think they were using that for Jackolynn. What room are they in?”
“Can’t you use one of the others?” He asked. I swore in my head
“Jackolynn is the only patient I know that wont be in desperate need of it.” I said, fingers crossed.
“I suppose that’s true. Room 96 I believe.” I tried not to give a sigh of relief. I grabbed a bag sitting by the door that contained a luckily silent Leche, and then locked the door behind me.
Seeing new surroundings was slightly alarming at first, having been in the same room for a month. Around me were loads of adults with a child, sometimes handcuffed, beside them. It felt impossible to restrain myself from running down the halls, but I managed to stay at a speed walk. 90, 92, 94, 96! I halted in front of the door, took a deep breath and walked through the door.
“Gentlemen. We need this room stat. Jackolynn is to be escorted by my back to her cell. A new patient will arrive in 5 minutes, by the name Elisuilen. The nurse that he is with will have the paperwork. Jackolynn, with me please.” She came, clearly trying hard to look nervous and scared. Once out into the hall I gave her a small wink. I stopped at a map on the wall that said In case of fire use exit route. And memorized in as best as I could. We were half way there when there was an alarm and flashing red lights. “PRISON BREACH. PRISON BREACH. PRISON BREACH.” A speaker sounded. I grabbed Jackie by the hand and ran through the halls with her. We rounded a corner and a glowing light said EXIT in big letters. I pushed it open, momentarily shocked from the natural light of the outside world.
The door let out to a fire escape and I put Jackie first, pushing her down three flights of metal stairs and onto solid ground. After my feet hit the slightly over grown grass, I looked at the building. Towering easily at 5 stories tall with four dome shapes connected to it on the ground floor, and all hidden in thick woods. I looked down at Jackie, who was also staring at the enormous prison, now turned to me.
“You can change back now, you know. Your kinda creeping me out with the nurse look.” Jackie said.
“Oh yeah? Well, now that were escaped prisoners I think the time calls for a new look all together.” And I closed my eyes. My skin, which had remarkably not become incredibly pale, I now turned very white with none of my previous. My hair, which I was forced to leave as a dried out brunet, was now a nourished brown. Finally, I shifted my facial features to look a little different, and unable to resist the temptation, like a movie star, so that I now looked like a giftedly beautiful girl, incredibly different from my previous exterior. “What do you think?” I said, twirling.
Jackie smiled in awe. “Like a princess! Now do me!” She said, giving me her wrist. “Make me extra pretty!”
“Okay, okay.” I said, resisting the urge to laugh. Jackie was very skinny, with stringy blonde hair and brown roots. Her face was heavily freckled and tan. She was so perfect already, I didn’t want to change her; sadly I had no choice. I closed my eyes and made her hair between copper blonde and light ash brown, then made her freckles move to be on her cheeks alone Her eyes, previously hazel, turned chocolaty brown and a final touch was a set of perfect teeth.
We began our walk down the abandoned road that you got to the prison by. Stopping by a stream when it got dark where I changed our clothes and spent a long time turning a rock into a thermos, which when Jackie put water in that she had figured out how to purify, tasted like licking stones. I let Leche out of my bag but made a leash from a vine. He mewed delightfully at birds but never strayed away. Also in my bag were some oranges, cereal, a zip-lock bag full of cold pasta, and some cat food. We ate hungrily but sparingly.
I watched Jackie play with Leche and twirl her hair, but was lost in thought. Jackie had a whole life ahead of her. A chance to normal and happy. A chance she couldn’t have if I kept her with me. When we found a town, I would have to let her go to an orphanage. She might not get adopted right away, but at least she would have a chance, right? But what if something happened? What if she let slip her power? I had to protect her, but I had to let her go. I kicked my bag in anger and heard the cereal shift around inside. Then I had another thought. What if I didn’t let her go? What if we got an apartment, I got a job, and she went to school? My mom had left me behind with enough to get me going, and I had just finished high school, so I would be able to do full time work hours. It could work. It just might work. I watched Jackie wade in the stream, and I smiled. No matter what people said, we were human, because no person could feel so much love and so much hate and feel so much in general without being human. Or, at least, almost human.