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When April came, at the al for hiht not to I thought he needed space, thought it would help The last thing that’d help would be seeing irl as once your nemesis track you doould be stressful for even the most practiced Vulcan Besides, I wouldn’t kno to help I would just

But when Ms Hunter ca for

I waited until spring break And then I started chasing a ghost

Ms Hunter gave me the note Jack left – it was si, not to call the cops, and that he loved her Ms Hunter had, in her desperation, gotten the bank to hand over his account inforery had been refunded to hi a h to live on for a bit, sure But al it

He’d left all his stuff in his rooar box with Sophia’s letters inside I looked for any sign of hirave, wilted It had to be weeks old If he’d come back after that, he would’ve put a fresh flower

I checked the hospital Mira and James said Jack came to see them on March 2nd – the day after Sophia’s funeral He told theave theift They’d been Sophia’s friends, but it was more than that Sophia loved them They were like Tallie to her - the child-Tallie she could and would never have, and Jack knew that Jack treated them like that

I called the Rose Club as a last ditch atteo

And that was it Allfroht sand

And then someone named Lily called She’d overheard the Rose Club operator’s conversation with me She was a friend of ‘Jaden’, which I insanely doubted because the only friend Jack allows himself to have is his reflection and/or his own reed to meet her at a café in Columbus

Lily was blonde and beautiful and almost six feet From her expensive purse and perfume, I called her out instantly as an escort She didn’t deny it, whichmy precious time as I tried to save Jack

Save?

I shake my head and watch the salt spray of the ocean douse a rock Save is the wrong word I can’t think like that I can’t save myself, let alone another person But for a while, I wanted to I really wanted to Jack of all people, deserved help I thought I could help a little I thought I could at least thatto skip it

I was an idiot

The old Isis wouldn’t have given up when Lily told me Jack came to visit her before he left town He wouldn’t say where he was going, but he gave her a irl naive it to her So she did

"Heher nails as I put the folder in eese From afar On separate sides of electric fences"

"No, listen," Lily leans in, one cool hand over mine "I’ve seen a lot of men, okay? I’ve seen all types of people, too Jack – Jack is so special He’ll deny it, but he either cares with his whole heart about sos The people he bothered to leave goodbye-stuff for – those are the people he cares about in his life You’re one of them"