Disclaimer: Again, I only own Beau, by default.
"And every minute regret that sank its teeth in my mind, said all that's need to be said and said it seventeen times." – 17, Short Stack
Nobody Knows Beau
The Diary of Beau Pickett
Entry Three: Five days.
Back up, Beau, back up.
Sleep was impossible. All I could think of was the poof. How to avoid it. What it was. My brain just didn't stop. I watched as the sun become higher and higher above the horizon. I sighed and walked to my bathroom. There, I looked myself over in the mirror, something I hadn't done for a long while. My black hair fell in waves over my face; with no electricity I hadn't been able to use the straighter on it. I couldn't care less though.
I walked out of the bathroom, then out of the hallways, out of the living room and then I was standing at the front of my house. I decided today, that I'd walk around Perdido Beach, searching for someone helpful. I guess I shouldn't have waited to the week before my 15th birthday to try and find out how to avoid the poof. But that was me. The procrastinator.
As I walked around I made sure I paid special attention to the people who walked past me. None of them though, looked really helpful. They all looked about ten or twelve; the only thing they could be in danger of is puberty. It was a lost cause. But maybe it will be better that way, if I just poof. No one will remember me anyway. It could be like dying, I thought. A long dreamless sleep. That sounded good.
I didn't know where I was. I didn't care. I wasn't paying attention anymore. I was going to walk until I thought I was out of Perdido Beach. Out of the way. While I walked I tried to avoid all thoughts of my birthday, the poof. Though, somehow they managed to squeeze into the crevices of my mind and I started thinking. The word birthday was starting to feel out of place, it wasn't my birthday in five days; it was my cease of existence.
I finally stopped walking to take a look around. DeaTh to freaKs was written on a wall facing me. Interesting capitalisation, was my first thought. Then I realised what it said and where I was. Zil Sperry's part of town. This was not good. I was a freak in a no-freak zone. It was like shooting fish in a barrel only you'd say it was like beating mutants in a dome. I had to get out of there. I couldn't be seen. I wasn't entirely sure what they did to Freak's when they got them and I didn't really want to find out so I ran. And even though I knew I was away from Zil's part of town I kept running.
Running.
Running.
Runningrunningrunning.
I ran until I collapsed. My face down in dirt, my eyes blurred with fatigue and what felt like a dozen daggers in my stomach. Maybe it's not so bad, I thought, poofing. I could leave this place, I would be at peace. No more war, no more running, hiding and most of all no more hunger.
