Shatter-Me-PDF-Shatter-Me-Series-Shatter-Me-Shatter-Me-1-Tahereh-Mafi (1)

Chapter Twenty-Two
It takes 5 years to walk to the elevator. 15 more to ride it
up. I’m a million years old by the time I walk into my room.
Adam is still, silent, perfectly put together and mechanical
in his movements. There’s nothing in his eyes, in his limbs,
in the motions of his body that indicate he even knows my
name.
I watch him move quickly, swiftly, carefully around the
room, finding the little devices meant to monitor my
behavior and disabling them one by one. If anyone asks why
my cameras aren’t working, Adam won’t get in trouble. This
order came from Warner. This makes it official.
This makes it possible for me to have some privacy.
I thought I would need privacy.
I’m such a fool.
Adam is not the boy I remember.
I was in third grade.
I’d just moved into town after being thrown out of asked to
leave my old school. My parents were always moving,
always running away from the messes I made, from the
playdates I’d ruined, from the friendships I never had. No
one ever wanted to talk about my “problem,” but the
mystery surrounding my existence somehow made things
worse. The human imagination is often disastrous when left
to its own devices. I only heard bits and pieces of their
whispers.
“Freak!”
“Did you hear what she did—?”
“What a loser.”
“—got kicked out of her old school—”