dra

He sat beside me, the driver a stiff silhouette up front, and when I

e looked down at his phone, bor

window and imagined hitting him.

ass front, gold lettering, a doorman

aid. "That's your

as he crossed the floor, as if I were a briefcase he refused to set down. They spoke in l

ard the back of the shop, where the rac

hatever y

ed anything

leave his screen. "You'l

ng t

t like a stone. I smiled

t's your

t one. A flicker of so

, boots I'd never wear, three handbags, a coat made for a winter I'd be long gone before. I hel

led me. I couldn't waste his m

cing a hatbox on his chin. My feet ached. My arms ached. I dumped

s phone. He took in the pile

mos

d drew out a single dress. Plain. M

w it. I'd worn that dress

owned it. But I had dreamed it,

" he said. "An

en

e dress a

d stood in front of a shop window for twenty minutes last spring, doing math I c

d anyone that.

y voice came out steadier than my

for once. Then he nodded at th

he end of the hall. I turned an

e in? Into the w

I went in and shut th

and breathed. I wasn't tired of my body. I was tired of having no

d up and saw

nto the lid and measured it with my eyes. I'd fit. He

tle door near the floor, like a hatch for a pet. I

have k

lway. The guards were deep in conversation,

tight. If they tried the door, it would only open an inch before it jammed, and that would buy

fizzed up, because I had done this before. Xander and I had snuck out of every window we'd ev

and swung

was going