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

Chapter Seventeen
I’m swimming in sunlight.
Warner is holding open a door that leads directly outside
and I’m so unprepared for the experience I can hardly see
straight. He grips my elbow to steady my path and I glance
back at him.
“We’re going outside.” I say it because I have to say it out
loud. Because the outside world is a treat I’m so seldom
offered. Because I don’t know if Warner is trying to be nice
again. I look from him to what looks like a concrete
courtyard and back to him again. “What are we doing
outside?”
“We have some business to take care of.” He tugs me
toward the center of this new universe and I’m breaking
away from him, reaching out to touch the sky like I’m hoping
it will remember me. The clouds are gray like they’ve always
been, but they’re sparse and unassuming. The sun is high
high high, lounging against a backdrop propping up its rays
and redirecting its warmth in our general direction. I stand
on tiptoe and try to touch it. The wind folds itself into my
arms and smiles against my skin. Cool, silky-smooth air
braids a soft breeze through my hair. This square courtyard
could be my ballroom.
I want to dance with the elements.
Warner grabs my hand. I turn around.
He’s smiling.
“This,” he says, gesturing to the cold gray world under our
feet, “this makes you happy?”
I look around. I realize the courtyard is not quite a roof, but
somewhere between two buildings. I edge toward the ledge
and can see dead land and naked trees and scattered