The Reformatory

by Tananarive Due

Florida’s soil is soaked with so much blood, it’s a wonder the droplets don’t seep between your toes with every step,

Her dying always sat at the tip of his tongue.

Was this all life was? A series of experiences and then someone feeding you as if none of it had ever happened? As if you’d never left any impression on the world?

Death was not the end,

Gloria had always found it silly that so much effort went into trying to send humans to space instead of learning how to get along on Earth.

For the first time, she understood the liberation of having nothing left to lose.