Elena remembere

Below her, the city lights looked like sparkly gold and red

flapped around her, like a kite that couldn't fly anymore. Her mouth felt yucky, like she had licked sal

little s

i

husb

ki

ones. Everything was quiet... except for the sound of the old air conditioner (like a cat snoring in the corner!). An

She sat up,

A faded Taylor Swift poster hung crookedly on the wall. Her o

ge dorm. My secon

freckles she'd later cover with makeup, eyes wide and unguarded. The silve

's lo

was a tiny photo of her mother smiling up at her, fr

a hand to her mo

's laugh. But here she was, in a body that hadn't yet learned to to be care

, her old iPhone with a cracked

wn Nu

ust the

lue tie the day they met. Navy silk with silver str

w," he whispered, loosening

mbered. She barely made it to

d her through the door

d to Paris after graduation and sent Elena postca

, wiping her mouth. "J

ot to eat that ga

s wasn't a dream. The dorm rug scratched her legs in that familiar, itchy way. Jess'

. Seven y

ore her 22n

ore she had

ild. "I am alive," she whispe

e had once loved. Her old planner lay open, a page filled with hearts an

ed for a pen, he

as

future flashed l

Richard Hart laughing, clutching his chest. E

ad

hand. Ink bled across t

it happen, Not

calls from her father (he had always called at

nown N

are

y came i

wn Nu

the

, no