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“Your best friend tried to kill herself.” I lean my hand against the door, Piper’s words echoing louder than my song. “I know.” Piper’s voice almost isn’t there. “Don’t you get it? It’s never going to be okay.” “I never said it’s going to be okay. I said I’m not leaving.”
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“Let me in, Piper. I needed that girl. I still need her. I’m not leaving here without her.” Piper doesn’t say anything, so I clear my throat and begin to sing another fire song even louder. “ ‘This girl is on fi—’ ” The door swings open. “You win! Just shut up!” On the floor, Piper leans back with a huff. “You’re the worst,” she says without looking at me. I sit next to her and shove her softly. “You love me.” Piper rests her head on the wall. A tear streaks from the corner of her eye, down her face, dissolving into the scars on her neck. “I didn’t want to die, you know,” she says. “Not
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“I thought if I could just walk, things would be magically better. But I was still me. Still this.” She gestures to the burns visible on her legs behind her plastic braces. “And I was so tired of pretending to be stronger than I feel.” “Then don’t,” I say. “Not with me.”
Piper steadies herself on the walker, wincing as she pulls her feet up to it like she’s moving through wet concrete. She breathes heavily, and reaches out for my hand again. “I’m scared,” she whispers. I steady her with my arm around her waist. “Me too.” I open the door, and we walk out. Together.
“Life is not a musical, Ava, but it is your life. No one can cast you in a role unless you let them.” He catches my eyes with his. “So what part do you want to play?”
A new strength courses through my body, which as sure as I’m alive is part of who I am. But as I cling to those three stars, I am more than my body. More than my scars. One by one, more lights blink on, like a smartphone Milky Way punching through the black, reaching the part of me the fire couldn’t touch. I breathe deep. My voice finds the words. Through the darkness, buoyed by the glow of countless tiny lights, I sing.
