Page 28 of Poison Aches
“Don’t do that,” I croak, as an intense feeling takes root in the pit of my stomach, like someone took sharp iron claws and is gnawing at my insides.
“Do what?” she whispers innocently when I know she’s nothing but.
“Don’t use that voice and don’t say things you don’t mean.”
“My voice?”
“Yes.”
“But I…”
Fuck, what the hell am I even saying?
“What makes you think I’m lonely?” I demand, scrambling to change the topic away from her voice. “And who said I needyourhelp?”
“I think you and I have a lot in common, so we can help each other,” she says confidently.
“We havenothingin common.”
“Well, you and I had a mutually traumatic experience. We’ve both been in and out of hospital these past few months because of that experience. It also means we both don’t go to school on a constant basis like other kids and so we should be close,” she continues, an excited flash gleaming in her eyes.
“That’s your conclusion?” I mutter in disbelief.
“Well, yes!” she says as if it’s obvious. “Isn’t familiarity and common traits the evidence of friendship?”
Is this girl shitting me right now?
“Where did you learn this?” I demand. “And all that crap is just an ill fate between a broken girl with a dead boy.”
“Is there a difference between being broken and being dead?”
Dazed by those words, I can only stare at the girl, not knowing what to say.
“There isn’t a difference which means you and I are not just similar but we are also familiar,” she says without pause. “You don’t have a mother… neither do I.”
The girl says those words with a simplicity that stuns me into another silence.
You don’t have a mother…
“Not only that but you’re not close to your father…I’ve never met mine,” the girl continues in that matter-of-fact tone. “Samuel, my brother, told me he doesn’t exist.”
What the fuck is going on here?
Where does this girl get the audacity?
“I’ve also heard rumors that you are antisocial, you don’t get along with others. You act like the whole world owes you a great debt.” She says that while watching, curiosity overflowing in her eyes. “Although I can’t relate to that last one, I can tell you that we’re almost identical on everything else. I don’t have anyfriends. I find people to be overwhelming. I think you are the same.”
People are a nuisance.
People are greedy, selfish, idiots that only ever think of their own profit…but are they overwhelming? No. Nothing is overwhelming to someone who knows how to get rid of problemsindefinitely, how can this girl liken her social anxiety and mental nonsense to me?
Yes, I’ve read her file. Including the one before the day we met.
“I also heard that you don’t talk…I also don’t like talking,” she continues.
“And yet you’re doing it now, without an end in sight,” I murmur.
“What?”
