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CHAPTER ONE

I stood in a round, white room with only a porthole-shapedto break up thekelp seeped in through the cracks where the silicone had crumbled away I didn’t knohere I was or why I was there But I knew so had summoned me

I spun around, suddenly conscious of a door, and saw a saffron-colored glow spilling out fro the stark walls Chilled air flowed in with the light and tickled the tops of my bare feet The blue nail polish onit look like I had half a toenail This caught h splinters beneath

The lights went out The door whooshed open, ale rush of arctic wind battered own around

The floorboards creaked I felt the weight of soth of them to my feet I couldn’t move and I wasn’t sure I wanted to

The lights fro the air abrasively My eyes stung A pounding sound filled my ears I covered them with my hands until I realized it came from my very heart

In the doorway I saw a silhouette of a man

My heart, and the pounding, stopped The man came for me, a mass of unfathomable malevolence I screamed and screamed until the black depths of his silhouette was all I could see I fell into hi cry

Until

A pair of hands grabbed my arms and pulled me up They shookwhite

And suddenly, I was in led sheets withoverher look years older than fifteen

She let go of my arms and stepped back

“You scared the shit out of rumbled

I propped myself up on my elbows and looked around my room at the concert posters on the walls and stacks of vinyl and CDs in the corner, taking couitar rested haphazardly against theseat, a pleasing contrast to my stuffed animal collection

I eyed my alarm clock Two minutes until it blared uncontrollably The observation was hazy, like I was not quite in my body yet

“Well?” Ada said, crossing her arms She was still in her pajamas, but her heavy-handed makeup was meticulously applied

“Well what?” I repeated

“Um, hello! Any explanation why your screa in here?”

“You have good hearing?”

“Perry!”

Her voice bordered on a shrill hissy fit Ada was always a degree or tay frost

“Well, I don’t know I had a bad drea…”

It was a drea into bits and pieces, and the more I tried to recall it, theof dread still clung to the recesses of ht autu it up

“Or so murdered, you know You’re lucky Mom didn’t hear you”

She peered at ns of mental illness She did that often

I rolledself-conscious with ion T-shirt that doubled as a nightgown Ada was as thin as a rail, but in the ot the wholesoood looks froht eyes, naturally blonde hair that she bleached (for so, lean build

As ot my dad’s Italian side Short (I’ray/blue eyes that acted as a ot a curvy build…at least that’s what I say when I feel like being nice to myself In reality, I used to be about sixty pounds heavier, but despite the weight loss, it’s not enough The fact is, I’ on those last fifteen pounds

I walked over to the ns of craziness I looked like crap but often did in thebefore my five cups of coffee kicked in