Fallout (Crank 3)

turns down the radio. I wish I could tell

you. But I’m not sure I ever knew Kristina.

The real Kristina, that is. I saw traces

of her once in a while. That girl had

a heart. The Kristina I met was still

pretty, but not nearly as beautiful

as the pictures I saw of her when she

was younger, before she started …

“Started using meth? With you?

Grandfather told me about that.

He said you were different before too.”

His jaw clenches. Dad doesn’t know

everything. Kristina didn’t start using

with me. She already had a history.

He tells me about Albuquerque.

How she met a guy there who first

turned her on. Tells me about

partying with her father. Hiding it

from her mother and stepfather.

How she probably would have

kept right on smoking it up then

except, But then she got pregnant

and mostly quit until Hunter was—

“Wait. Hunter? I have a brother?”

I’ve always believed I was an only

child. Not sure why, in retrospect.

I’m sorry. I forgot you didn’t know.

You have three brothers and a sister.

But you’re the only one who’s mine. I—

“Stop. I have to think.” I turn up