Page 134 - My FlipBook
P. 134

L IS A  J.  L A W R E N C E


             shapes, slowly making sense of them again: a boxy sofa, the
             thin line of a floor lamp, the lump of a discarded blanket.
             Cold and musty—an abandoned space. She didn’t even
             bother lighting the oven, wrapping herself in a blanket on
             the sofa instead.
                She could never make sense of those shards still rattling
             loose inside her. They dug in, but no matter how long she
             looked at them, they never formed a whole picture. A grotesque

             kaleidoscope. When she tried to sort through it, all the colors
             mixed together until it turned into a swamp brown.

                                      W



             The second night at the cabin was supposed to fix every -
             thing. Just her, Rachel, Matt and Dylan. No Priya in a little              ADVANCE READING COPY

             black dress. No Angus trying to move in when Dylan turned
             his back.
                “We have dibs on the good bed tonight,” Matt had said
             from the front seat of Rachel’s car, looking over his shoulder
             at Dylan.
                “We’ll see about that,” Dylan said, nudging Greta.
                She laughed, a tinny sound that grated in her ears. It
             would take some drinks. Maybe not the toxic punch that
             nearly killed her. But something.

                Greta knew the turns in the road now, the signs they were
             close. The old boulder of nausea wobbled in her gut. She
             ignored it, unbuckling her seat belt the moment they pulled
             into the driveway. Matt collected some loose beer cans rolling



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