Red at the Bone

by Jacqueline Woodson

Guess that’s where the tears came from, knowing that there’s so much in this great big world that you don’t have a single ounce of control over. Guess the sooner you learn that, the sooner you’ll have one less heartbreak in your life.

him. Even through the tears, though, he could hear the distance in her voice. Had it ever been anything other than this? He couldn’t remember.

She felt red at the bone—like there was something inside of her undone and bleeding.

She feels hollow. Untethered. She had thought freedom would feel different than this.