Fallout (Crank 3)

with blood-tinted juice.

I can barely breathe with

them swelled up inside me.

Afraid to go out. Afraid to stay

in. Who knows what uncertainty will

strike next or what will happen to me?

IT’S ALL QUITE LOST

On Aunt Cora, who thinks,

because I’m her maid of honor,

I must be honored. I should tell

her how I feel, but I can’t bring

myself to mute her vibrant aura.

Even I, a total aura neophyte, can

make out the shimmer. Do all

brides wear an opalescent halo?

Liam’s family expected

a June wedding. (How cliché.)

But Aunt Cora didn’t want to

wait. What, did she think he’d

vanish, or curdle like old milk?

Or maybe she was worried

he (or she) might have a change

of heart? I don’t pretend to

understand. All I know is they

settled on a Saturday-before-

Christmas wedding. So now

she not only ruins the rest of my life,

she ruins the Christmas before

the rest of my life. Not to mention

Thanksgiving. Holidays will never