Page 56 - My FlipBook

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

For the next hour Greta watched Ash absorb the weight
of every particle around him. Rebus tilted lower on Ash’s
side—subtle but discernable. Greta buckled her seat belt
to keep from sliding toward him, falling into his black hole.
Dark matter. Nonluminous. This time Ash’s head did loll from
side to side with the movement of the car. It was as if he’d
come back from the rest stop, buckled his seat belt and ceased
to live.

Nate said, “I need to stop for gas,” and Ash’s long arm held
out thirty dollars across the canyon of space between them.
They pulled into an Esso station in a hamlet called
Gunn. When he got out to pump the gas, Greta and Ash sat
in silence, not wanting to think past that moment. Heading
home to a dark question mark.
Nate paid for the gas and climbed back in. “Here,” he ADVANCE READING COPY

said, tossing a jumbo package of licorice into Ash’s lap. “I only
had five bucks left, so I got us something to share.”
Greta saw Ash cock his head in her direction, ever so
slightly.

W

“It’s cold in here.” Greta dragged her blanket into Ash’s
storage room and flopped onto a pile of discarded clothes

lying on the floor beside his mattress. “Do you want me to
light the oven?”
Ash lifted his head and then dropped it back on the
pillow. He lay on top of the blankets, as if he had fallen on

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