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For Z King

Aits iet rid of a temptation is to yield to it

–Robert Louis Stevenson,

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Kai

Rain was like night You could be different in the dark and under the clouds

I’ht and how our other senses heightened or the subtle shroud hiding things froht, but only certain ti off your jacket and roll up your sleeves Pour a drink and lean back Laugh with your friends and screaame on TV

Follow a girl you’ve been eye-fucking for an hour into the pub bathroom and have your friends nod in approval when you come back out

Try doing that during the day with the intern at the office

Not that I’d want the freedos were more special when they were rare

But every hter in anticipation

Nightfall was coain

Letting le from my hand atand watched Rika sitting in her car She kept her head down, her face visible by the glow of her cell phone, despite the downpour of rain hitting her windshield as she typed

I shookShe doesn’t listen

I watched as ht fro, and then she opened the car door, stepped out, and broke into a jog, dashing through the pounding rain I dartedinventory of her Head and eyes cast doard Keys wrapped in her closed fist Ar her line-of-sight