Lilly
N
othing
. I felt nothing even as my hair rustled from wind that my burned nerves couldn’t sense. Resting my cheek on my knees, I stared at the soft, green grass that coated Richard’s yard blankly. My bike was propped against his house in front of his sister’s car, and I sat on his short stoop trying to work up the energy to knock on the door behind me.
Horrible things circled in my mind, filling my ears with a ringing and beating against my eye sockets. The store clerk’s voice swirled around between my brain and my skull, and I squeezed my head between my arms in a futile attempt to relieve the pressure.
My life was ruined. I just couldn’t figure out how it’d happened. Richard and I used protection, and none of the condoms had torn.
I couldn’t even summon tears, and the hollow
