via

matic boycott o

the Village. The little Italian place that kept a table open for us on Fridays.

A ghost fading before t

peated it like a mantra while I brushed my tee

al. It felt like my ribs wer

nd my apartment building. The air sme

d, I held

emed to mock me now. It was heav

A memento. A remin

o

y hand. My

et

It didn't shatter. It just disappeared among the coffee gro

airs and started

er the bed. This was the dang

A dried rose from our

am-colored stationery. Marcus's handwritin

m in my chaotic world. When I

rs blurred the ink,

nt it then. If he didn't, then my entire life

t then didn't

chen sink. I grabbed the lon

t on. The f

n orange. I watched the words *only calm* turn to ash. I dropped it into

the next one

n, bitter and acrid. It

ust like the hair I had chopped of

Enterprises to drop off some files my fath

head down, hugging the folde

or doors d

walke

s and

right there, in his space. She reached up, her manicured fin

c. It was something I ha

a large potted

. Her eyes fou

y smile that didn't reach her eyes. She picked up a coffe

Hazelnut, just h

nut. He liked black coffe

led at her. A genuine, sof

was ten feet away,

zzed. It wa

Marcus and Izzy will be there. You ne

anted to throw the phone

was entangled with Marcus's. I was the

ed pas

" Izzy c

e, cold, indifferent. He looked at my short hai

aid. Not a compliment. An

n the way

d. "Try to wear something lively. Yo

d out of the building, in

he dinner, I sat

n to hear what Izzy was whispering. I watched the wa

ith a terrifying a

look he use

finally died. It didn't go out

ghter. I took

d Izzy's fakeness, and I didn't

ek,* I

flight I had secretly b

smiled when required.

it felt different. It wasn't a ho

packed the rest of my clothes. The

zzz

cked

and looked out at the

anymore," I whis

The lock clicked shut. It so

ked too. And I t