Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke

Author:April Genevieve Tucholke
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2016-02-22T11:00:36+00:00

THE DARK. It was thick as drying blood, so thick I could have held it in my hands, if they were free, palms filled with it. I could feel the blackness breathing, panting, panting, the dark, the dark, the dark.

Not much longer now, it wouldn’t be much longer, my wrists were itching, burning, my arms were falling asleep, they felt dead, dead weights on the ends of my shoulders, but I wasn’t going anywhere, not yet. The scratching sounds came and went with the breeze, the breeze cleared the air, leaves and dirt and dew covering up the dust and dank and death, and I drew it in, sucked it in, like it was meant for me, like it would save me.

I screamed again. Scream, scream, scream. I was losing my voice, but it blocked out the dark, and the scratching, and the whispering, when had the whispering started? Had it always been there? Whisper, whisper, words I didn’t know, stupid words, lumpy words, swampy words, the unforgivables, Wink made them up, I knew she did, I’d known all along, but then who was whispering?

My wrists hurt, my heart hurt, it was beating so fast, so fast, I couldn’t keep up, Leaf was whispering to me, we were in the meadow, and I was beside him on the grass and he was whispering, whispering that I was ugly on the inside, but he was kissing my wrists anyway, kissing them hard, so hard they were burning from it, burning up, and my arms were wrapped around him, so tight they were going numb and this was why, this was why, whispers and heartbeats, whispers and heartbeats, all around me. I wanted to put my hands over my ears but I couldn’t, the whispers drew in closer, so close they were touching me, inside me, through my skin, into my insides, into my inner deeps, I couldn’t bear it, I couldn’t bear one more second of it . . .

I screamed. And screamed.

I tried to keep counting, counting my own flashing heartbeats, just to make sure, one two three, one two three . . .

But then, just like that, like a door slamming in the wind . . .

Everything went quiet.

Everything, for once, was quiet.

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