583495793235

More documents

Recommendations

Info

THE OBSERVABLE WORLD ACCORDING TO THE Big Bang theory, the universe came into being in one single moment—a cosmic cataclysm that gave birth to black holes, brown dwarfs, matter and dark matter, energy and dark energy. It gave birth to galaxies and stars and moons and suns and planets and oceans. It’s a hard concept to hold on to—the idea that there was a time before us. A time before time. In the beginning there was nothing. And then there was everything.
THIS TIME OLLY SMILES. HE will not stop smiling. He gives me every variation of smile that there is and I have to kiss his smiling lips. One kiss leads to ten until our kissing is interrupted by the sound of Olly’s stomach growling. I break our kiss. “I guess we should eat something.” “Besides you?” He kisses my bottom lip and then bites it gently. “You are delicious, but inedible.” I sit up, holding the blanket to my chest. I’m not quite ready to be naked again despite our intimacy. Unlike me, Olly’s not feeling at all shy. He’s out of bed in a single movement and moves about the room completely naked. I lean back against the headboard and simply watch him move, all grace and light. No dark angel of death now. Everything’s different and the same. I’m still Maddy. Olly’s still Olly. But we’re both more somehow. I know him in a new way. And I feel known, too. The restaurant sits right on the beach and our table faces the ocean. It’s late—9 P.M.—so we can’t really see the blue of the water, just the whitecaps of the waves as they crash against the beach. We hear it just beneath the music and chatter all around us. “Think they have humuhumu on the menumenu?” Olly teases. He jokes that he wants to eat all the fish that we saw while snorkeling. “I’m going to guess that they don’t serve the state fish,” I say. We’re both starving from all the activity of the day, so we order every appetizer on the menu: poke (tuna marinated in soy sauce), crab cakes, coconut shrimp, lobster pot stickers, and Kalua pork. We don’t stop touching for the entire meal. We touch in between bites of food and sips of pineapple juice. He touches the side of my neck, my cheek, my lips. I touch his fingers, his forearms, his chest. Now that we’ve touched so intimately, we can’t stop. We move the chairs so that we’re sitting right next to each other. He holds my hand in his lap or I hold his in mine. We look at each other and laugh for no reason. Or, not for no reason, but because the world just then seems extraordinary. For us to have met, to have fallen in love, to get to be together is beyond anything either of us had ever thought possible. Olly orders us a second helping of lobster pot stickers. “You make me very hungry,” he croons, eyebrows waggling. He touches my cheek and I blush into his hands. We eat this plate more slowly. It’s our last. Maybe if we just sit here, if we don’t acknowledge that time is passing, then this too-perfect day won’t have to end. As we leave, the waitress tells us to come back and visit again soon, and Olly promises
Page 3 and 4:
This is a work of fiction. Names, c
Page 5 and 6:
C O N T E N T S Cover Title Page Co
Page 7 and 8:
More Than This Nurse Evil Neighborh
Page 9 and 10:
Takeoff Forgiveness Life is Short T
Page 11 and 12:
THE WHITE ROOM I’VE READ MANY mor
Page 13:
SCID ROW MY DISEASE IS as rare as i
Page 19 and 20:
“Perfect.” My mom peers over my
Page 21 and 22:
STAYS THE SAME I’M READING ON my
Page 23 and 24:
ALIEN INVASION, PART 2 I’M UP TO
Page 27 and 28:
THE WELCOME COMMITTEE “CARLA,”
Page 29 and 30:
NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH HIS MOM’S SCHE
Page 31 and 32:
I SPY HIS FAMILY CALLS him Olly. We
Page 33 and 34:
The bell rings again. My mom half r
Page 35 and 36:
PIÈCE DE REJECTION BACK IN MY room
Page 37 and 38:
I don’t think Carla has ever said
Page 39 and 40:
FIRST CONTACT TWO DAYS PASS and I
Page 41 and 42:
NIGHT FOUR I CAN’T STAND it. I pe
Page 43 and 44:
NIGHT SIX THE BUNDT IS lying on a w
Page 45 and 46:
FIRST CONTACT, PART TWO From: Madel
Page 47 and 48:
Wednesday, 8:15 P.M. FIRST CONTACT,
Page 49 and 50:
Olly: curiouser and curiouser madel
Page 51 and 52:
Madeline: She must love somebody. I
Page 53 and 54:
Olly: no. he made me quit the mathl
Page 55 and 56:
Olly: come to the window Madeline:
Page 57 and 58:
figure is different. This time he
Page 59 and 60:
“Well, if I didn’t know before
Page 61 and 62:
TWO HOURS LATER I TRY AGAIN. “It
Page 63 and 64:
LATER STILL “PLEASE, CARLA—”
Page 65 and 66:
“You trying to talk me out of it?
Page 67 and 68:
OLLY THE SUNROOM IS my favorite roo
Page 69 and 70:
he’s still, I can feel the need t
Page 71 and 72:
DIAGNOSIS
Page 74 and 75:
WONDERLAND AND IT’S THE wanting t
Page 76 and 77:
MAKES YOU STRONGER THERE’S NO E-M
Page 78 and 79:
NO YES MAYBE Monday, 8:09 P.M. Made
Page 80:
TIME CARLA MAKES US wait a week bef
Page 83 and 84:
FORECAST OLLY’S ON THE wall again
Page 85 and 86:
There are too many inputs to the fo
Page 87 and 88:
SECRETS MY CONSTANT IMING with Olly
Page 89 and 90:
NUMEROLOGY NUMBER OF: minutes it to
Page 91 and 92:
OLLY SAYS HE’S NOT ON the wall wh
Page 93:
Olly finds himself getting angry, t
Page 96 and 97:
going to go back to school soon. He
Page 98 and 99:
UPSIDE DOWN NORMAL PEOPLE PACE when
Page 100 and 101:
my finger in the palm of his hand.
Page 102 and 103:
FRIENDSHIP Later, 8:16 P.M. Olly: y
Page 107 and 108:
LIFE AND DEATH OLLY’S NOT ON the
Page 110 and 111:
HONESTLY Later, 8:03 P.M. Olly: no
Page 112 and 113:
preparing for a bout. He’s trying
Page 114 and 115:
THE THIRD MADDY I’M ALMOST ASLEEP
Page 116 and 117:
“That’s enough now,” my mom s
Page 118 and 119:
MIRROR IMAGE I PULL THE curtains as
Page 120 and 121:
MORE THAN THIS MY MOM WORDLESSLY kn
Page 122 and 123:
NURSE EVIL MY NEW NURSE is an unsmi
Page 124 and 125:
I stare at the note, remembering th
Page 126 and 127: HIGHER EDUCATION WITH OLLY BACK in
Page 128 and 129: ALOHA MEANS HELLO AND GOOD -BYE, PA
Page 130 and 131: LATER, 9:08 P.M. OLLY’S ALREADY W
Page 132 and 133: THE GLASS WALL A WEEK LATER, someth
Page 134 and 135: HALF LIFE IT’S A STRANGE thing to
Page 136 and 137: THE FIVE SENSES HEARING The alarm
Page 138 and 139: “Maddy—” “I’ll explain ev
Page 141 and 142: At first I’m not sure what I’m
Page 143 and 144: HAPPY ALREADY “MADS, BE SERIOUS.
Page 145 and 146: I reach over and take his hand. “
Page 147 and 148: eyes. “I must’ve missed a lot o
Page 149 and 150: TTYL
Page 151 and 152: THE CAROUSEL “I’VE DECIDED BAGG
Page 153 and 154: MADELINE’S DICTIONARY prom•ise
Page 155 and 156: And, too, the world is in me.
Page 157 and 158: REWARD IF FOUND OUR HOTEL SITS righ
Page 159 and 160: three meals and two snacks exactly
Page 161 and 162: eathed the same filtered air for so
Page 163 and 164: GUIDE TO HAWAIIAN REEF FISH
Page 165 and 166: I’m sure I don’t want him to. *
Page 167 and 168: ZACH BACK AT THE hotel, Olly calls
Page 169 and 170: Do you have my daughter? Is she OK?
Page 171 and 172: THE MURPHY BED IT’S LATE AFTERNOO
Page 173 and 174: ALL THE WORDS I COME AWAKE slowly,
Page 175: MADELINE’S DICTIONARY in•fi•n
Page 179 and 180: “Do you believe it?” he asks.
Page 181 and 182: THE END SOMEONE HAS PUT me in a hot
Page 183 and 184: My. Heart. Stops.
Page 185 and 186: RELEASED, PART ONE
Page 187 and 188: READMITTED MY MOM HAS transformed m
Page 189 and 190: RELEASED, PART TWO Wednesday, 6:56
Page 191 and 192: Madeline: but mine isn’t
Page 193 and 194: GEOGRAPHY I’M IN AN endless field
Page 195 and 196: LIFE IS SHORT SPOILER REVIEWS BY MA
Page 197 and 198: PRETENDING I’M STRONGER WITH each
Page 199 and 200: I’m trying not to focus on Olly,
Page 201 and 202: FIVE SYLLABLES A MONTH LATER, just
Page 203 and 204: HIS LAST LETTER IS HAIKU From: gene
Page 205 and 206: FOR MY EYES ONLY From: Dr. Melissa
Page 207 and 208: question if I have spoken after all
Page 209 and 210: IDENTITY CARLA’S BARELY IN the do
Page 211 and 212: PROOF OF LIFE ALL I HAVE to do is g
Page 213 and 214: have SCID?” Her concern morphs in
Page 215 and 216: I should feel compassion. But that
Page 217 and 218: THE VOID A UNIVERSE THAT can wink i
Page 219 and 220: “But my heart stopped.” “Yes.
Page 221 and 222: ONE WEEK A.D. I HAVE MY first weekl
Page 223 and 224: THREE WEEKS A.D. MY MOM TRIES to en
Page 225 and 226: FIVE WEEKS A.D. I ORDER REAL plants
Page 227 and 228:
MADELINE’S MOM
Page 229 and 230:
lot left.” We go back inside. I f
Page 231 and 232:
THE END IS THE BEGINNING IS THE END
Page 233 and 234:
FUTURE PERFECT #2 From: Madeline F.
Page 235 and 236:
FORGIVENESS I STARE OUT the window
Page 237 and 238:
THIS LIFE EVEN AT 9 A.M. on a Satur
Page 239:
choices you make and all the choice
Page 242 and 243:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS YOU ARE TRULY a tho
show all

583495793235

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?