The Mass by Natalie Blank

Author:Natalie Blank
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, death, young adult, contemporary, teen, social issues, ya, survivors guilt, editors pick
Publisher: Evernight Teen

Daniel

I’m in paradise.

In just a week, I’ve had more sex with Maya than I ever had during my near two-year relationship with Anna. More alcohol than at high school parties. More laughs. More thrills. More of everything. The rapture rises every day.

From start to finish, our days are packed with pleasure. If we’re not in our room having sex, we’re at the park, forest, or lagoon. By now, we’ve been on every ride, seen almost every show, and taken pictures with over a hundred elves. Things that bothered me before don’t matter, especially the heat. I sweat until my clothes are drenched, and I eat and drink to my heart’s content. I feel healthier and active, and I am constantly having fun.

Amidst all the entertainment, I’ve convinced Maya not to smoke cigarettes this week and to include more than chips and alcohol into her daily intake of calories. She’s opened up to sandwiches and French fries.

Maya has persuaded me to do some pretty extreme things as well. Saturday, I agree to go shirtless and drench myself in “fairy dust” for the ultimate nightclub experience. She does the same but covers her nipples with starfish pads. Dancing straight in the center of the club, the lights fall on us, and the fairies hanging from above try to pull us off the ground. Then a fight breaks out between two elf lords, and the whole club is cleared out, except for Maya and I, lounging in the trees with the fairy world. One of them offers me a strange pill with a smile on it. Maya whacks the fairy’s hand away. “No one cranks my man except for me.” We leave right away, Maya somewhat livid. The pill was Ecstasy.

As I hold her hand in the elevator, I have the biggest smile.

“What are you so happy for?” she asks.

“I had a good time tonight,” I say. “You’d never see me shirtless and covered in fairy goo back in Morville.”

“I think you sweat most of it off,” she says, wiping a finger across my glistening chest.

Little does she know, I’m smiling because she called me her man.

Behind those brown eyes, there’s a part of her that cares. Or wants to care. Maybe in time, she’ll let go.

****

One afternoon, while taking a break from everything, Maya takes a phone call out on the balcony. Her phone has been buzzing nonstop for the last couple of days, so whoever’s calling now must be important.

While Maya has her conversation, I check through my phone, noting all the missed calls and texts from Gracie.

Gracie: Hope you’re having success on your journey. How’s it going? Have you found God?

Before I left, I made it clear that I wouldn’t answer any calls or texts, nor be on social media anytime soon. My dad hasn’t even tried to reach out, but he respects my wishes. He’ll only contact me if there’s an emergency.

For a few seconds, I think about the Morville Massacre and how everyone is doing back home. But

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