Made You Up

by Francesca Zappia

Prologue: The Freeing of the Lobsters

<3

I saw Blue Eyes’s reflection in the glass of the lobster tank before he spoke. Big blue eyes. Blueberry blue. No, that was too dark. Ocean blue. Too green. Blue like all the blue crayons I had, all melted into one.

I’d already taken a picture of four suspicious-looking squirrels lined up on the red brick wall outside my neighbor’s house this morning, but other than that, the memory card was empty.

A feeling erupted in my stomach, like nothing would ever be the same again. Like good karma was catching up with me. Like someone had opened up the lid to my lobster tank and I was finally breathing in the shockingly fresh air.