Identical

by Ellen Hopkins

Okay, so maybe I’m a little confused. Does being in control mean I have to cave in, have to crumble?

Never accept evil as something you must walk with, something you deserve. Somehow. Do you understand what I mean? I nod, because I do understand. I’m just not sure how to go about divorcing myself from the evil I’ve already accepted.

I know the last eight years cannot have been easy. But hanging out with losers won’t make your life better. I’ve come to believe that people who survive accidents like that one are either just plain evil, or saved for a reason. Which are you?

Babies aren’t born cruel or filled with sick desire. Evil is not intrinsic. It’s fashioned.

“Crazy” is hardly a clinical term. It’s a form of mental illness, and yes, it can be cured, or at least regulated. It doesn’t happen overnight, though. It takes years of treatment, and the guts to dig down and extract the truth. Guts? Do I have the guts? I smile. “Guts? Is that a clinical term?”