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

Chapter Six
1 word, 2 lips, 3 4 5 fingers form 1 fist.
1 corner, 2 parents, 3 4 5 reasons to hide.
1 child, 2 eyes, 3 4 17 years of fear.
A broken broomstick, a pair of wild faces, angry whispers,
locks on my door.
Look at me, is what I wanted to say to you. Talk to me
every once in a while. Find me a cure for these tears, I’d
really like to exhale for the first time in my life.
It’s been 2 weeks.
2 weeks of the same routine, 2 weeks of nothing but
routine. 2 weeks with the cellmate who has come too close
to touching me who does not touch me. Adam is adapting to
the system. He never complains, he never volunteers too
much information, he continues to ask too many questions.
He’s nice to me.
I sit by the window and watch the rain and the leaves and
the snow collide. They take turns dancing in the wind,
performing choreographed routines for unsuspecting
masses. The soldiers stomp stomp stomp through the rain,
crushing leaves and fallen snow under their feet. Their
hands are wrapped in gloves wrapped around guns that
could put a bullet through a million possibilities. They don’t
bother to be bothered by the beauty that falls from the sky.
They don’t understand the freedom in feeling the universe
on their skin. They don’t care.
I wish I could stuff my mouth full of raindrops and fill my
pockets full of snow. I wish I could trace the veins in a fallen
leaf and feel the wind pinch my nose.