Seven Dirty Secrets

by Natalie D. Richards

Find your partner in crime And follow the clues. No one else can know. Happy hunting, birthday girl.

Hope wants to structure programs that help people lead better lives. I want to analyze body fluid samples and gunpowder residue in a forensics lab when those people inevitably crack up and commit heinous crimes.

Someone saw, someone knows. At the Service Door, that’s where it goes. Near the deer water in the city’s heart. Isn’t that where everything starts?

Ninjas, birds, and towers And some that take a fall. If you don’t win this hunt, I swear I’ll tell them all.

Don’t tell another soul. You know I’m watching you. Past Bellows, Pierce, Demuth. Find the starry dress that’s blue.

You want the future, not the past, But your dreams and lies are blind. Look for an old capital neighbor, A doctor’s gift, a citizen’s find.

Do you believe it’s over? Do you really think it’s through? Find the silent people waiting. Find the lies he wrote for you.

One Two Six Two Zeroes Four. You’ll find your clue behind this door. They say the truth will set you free. You’re getting close.

Are you ready to see?

Past the bricks, before the fountain. Up the stairs, through a haunt. Time to see what really happened.

Because your guilt isn’t what I want.

I’m just tired. Tired of suspecting every person who had anything to do with West Virginia of wanting to serve me a cold dish of vengeance and tired of vague-ass clues that leave me stumped and frustrated.

I have breakfast, because I’m firmly convinced there is no food on earth that rivals the glory of pancakes, eggs, and bacon.

She always pays, which is nice, but it also makes me feel a little like the Walmart tank top I’m wearing.

Seven went in. Six came out. And now it’s been a year. Think new clubs and old trains. You’ll find the rain drawn here.

He shrugs. “Love doesn’t make us do stupid shit, Cleo. Fear does that.”

I know seven secrets. One caused the fall.

One did nothing. One saw it all. One didn’t care. One used their head. One played the hero. One was left for dead.