I’d gone to bed a kid, but I woke up a teenager. An honest-to-god thirteen-year-old. I felt different, I was sure of it. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and I could almost pretend that the world wasn’t collapsing around me, could almost stay ahead of the gray dread that nipped at my heels. I got to eat cornflakes, milk, and bananas for breakfast. Name-brand cornflakes Mom had bought special for me.
