OCDaniel by Wesley King

Author:Wesley King
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books

CHAPTER 14

I was so surprised, I just stood there for a moment, stunned. She was sprinting across the field, her ponytail bouncing around madly behind her.

“Sara!” I shouted, suddenly realizing she was not coming back.

I ran after her, chasing her into the field. Grasshoppers bounded out of the way around me.

“Sara! Wait!”

She was halfway across the field when I caught her arm again. She tried to yank it away, but I held on, pulling her to a stop. She turned back to me, tears spilling down her face.

We just looked at each other for a moment, and then her expression softened.

“Just let me go,” she said. “It would be better. You have a chance to be normal, Dan. I don’t.”

I shook my head. “No. I want to help.”

“You don’t want—”

“I do.”

She seemed to consider that. “I shouldn’t have run away.”

I shrugged. “No big deal.”

“I get . . . angry sometimes. And then sad. And then nothing.”

I nodded. “The Great Space. It’s okay. I go there too.”

She smiled. “Look around us. Do you ever wish you were alone on Earth?”

I looked around. It was kind of serene. Nothing but grass waving in the breeze, and houses, and clouds lazily drifting across the sky. We were just little specks in the grass.

“Sometimes,” I whispered, thinking of my book.

“Me too. You can’t be crazy when you’re the only one.”

She spun, lifting her hands and shouting. Then she burst into laughter and rolled into the grass. She came to rest lying on her back, staring up at the sky. Loose strands of hair fell about her face and framed her eyes.

“I could stay here forever,” she said.

I lay down beside her, watching the clouds roll past.

“What do you see?” she asked, and I looked at her, surprised. She sounded like Emma.

I thought about that for a minute. “Freedom,” I said at last.

She smiled. “Me too.”

After a while she looked at me. “I’ll try not to go bonkers anymore.”

“That would be nice.”

“Good luck at your game tomorrow. I’d come watch, but I hate football.”

I laughed. “Fair enough.”

We climbed to our feet and started for home, the sun just now starting to set.

“What time is dinner on Sunday?” I asked quietly.

She looked at me, surprised, and then smiled.

• • •

Game day dawned gray and gloomy. I woke up early, though really I hadn’t slept any more than an hour at most. The Routine had taken me until three, and then I had lain there until five. It was seven now, and I’d woken up twice in those two hours to go to the bathroom.

Now I just lay there, staring at the opaque light filtering in around my curtain. It felt like there was a boulder sitting in my stomach. I tried to get up but couldn’t. I lay down and tried again. It took ten attempts before I just barreled out of my room and went downstairs, still in my T and sleep pants.

I opened the front door and stared outside. A misty rain was falling, making everything cold and damp and slippery.

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