The Five

by Lily White

Her fingers moved over it, and I had a clear view of five tally marks as if she was counting something. Why five? What was so important she would carve the count into her skin?

Despite the condemnation, she wasn’t upset to make the confession. It was a simple statement as a prelude to her tale.

Rowan and Rainey, forever.

She was beautiful. Utterly and terrifyingly so.

I wanted to comfort her. Shelter her. Rip her from a world that had treated her poorly so that her stupid choices would punish her no longer.

“Do you think it’s possible for me to change? To be better than I am?”

I wasn’t a star, wouldn’t burn out like Rowan had.

Jacob was the same way. Both of them always tossing it in my face that I had no way out of this mess, so I might as well lie back and enjoy it.

People shouldn’t make promises they can’t keep.

In and out. Pain in my arm, like being cut open. And then a pillow beneath my head. A door closing.