Oh, Pearl. Maybe you can talk to Blueberry? I think you should try to visit her. Friendship is so precious.

I know what you mean when you say that everyone is watching you. Today, when I was walking home from work, I was pulled into a dark room filled with cleaning solutions and mops, smelling of flowers and sanitizer. They looked like heads of hair, like Blue Diamond's Pearls, eyes peering out.

I screamed, but Agate placed her hand over my mouth. It felt like I was trying to leave through my eyes. I shouted into her palm for such a long time, until I couldn't see anything. The room had grown so dark.

"Morganite, I'm sorry."

My vocal chords had tangled, but my mouth mumbled. Secretly, I must have known things my eyes could no longer see. My head felt full of pins, red and swollen at the base. They poked against the inside of my skull, but Agate kept me still. Even with her holding my hair and mouth and my whole body, I could feel them, shifting.

"I didn't think they'd keep you in solitary for so long."

I couldn't use my mouth to talk. I cried. I sweltered under my clothes. The needles melted. A heat would roll on and I felt a layer of sweat inside my uniform.

She helped me take it off. Thank the stars no one is watching, her hands wrote as she helped me out of my shirt. I was still crying. I grew hotter. I was bleeding and she took it away, holding me under the lights. They were hot too, but I curled into her lap. We had molded together, like wax. She stroked my hair. I smelled sweat and flowers. I can't figure out which were mine and which were hers. She was embracing me and crying.

She helped me dress and I left her office, I'm glad we made up. You should try the same with Blueberry. She'll appreciate your honesty.

—Morganite