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Comfortable Madness First PDF 4-13-18

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Always and Forever<br />

I dreamed of light and faceless faces. I dreamed of Gid’s<br />

hands and the feel of his lips. I knew the ridges of his thighs and the<br />

swirls in his fingertips. His tongue tasted of mint and rain.<br />

Scenes flipped from one to the other without warning.<br />

<strong>First</strong>, I was on a bus, trying to shave my head. I didn’t know why I<br />

wanted to shave my head. I couldn’t stop. I took a spoon and<br />

scraped it over my scalp over and over, but the hair wouldn’t cut. It<br />

pulled at the roots, but nothing came off.<br />

Gid sat with me, and stared, but I couldn’t speak.<br />

Something told me he was smiling, like this was funny to him.<br />

Anger flooded through me. I bunched my fist, but then my body<br />

locked up and I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t<br />

breathe. I choked and gagged and shivered. Gid ran his fingertip<br />

along my jaw.<br />

“This is love,” he said. “You cannot get away.”<br />

The world tilted and spun, and I stood on a corner down by<br />

the water front. Rain fluttered in from the mountains. Men and<br />

women ran by me. I was invisible. Out on the river, tugs and ferries<br />

steamed through the red and silver waves. Water rose over the<br />

seawall and swirled around my ankles. I sank into the muddy bank.<br />

Trees reached out for me, but their fingers were too brittle, too<br />

weak.<br />

I was dying.<br />

“You can live forever,” Gid said.<br />

He stood on the water, not reaching for me, not doing<br />

anything to save me. I tried to climb his leg, but he was smoke and<br />

rain.<br />

I slipped below the waves. Green light filtered in. I<br />

couldn’t breathe. I kicked and fought, and my lungs quivered.<br />

Everything exploded.

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