Rebecca McNutt

Netflix is SO overrated.

I'll never buy a cell phone, I'd rather die than have a cell phones. Cell phones are the 21st century's ball and chain.

_ MOM!_ Martha finally screamed. __om, you__e got to see these!___s it about Hermione?_ She exclaimed, rushing into the middle of the room. Her mouth dropped open in horror when she noticed Hermione__ walls.__ can__ find any_ polite_ photos of her, mom.___hy are there ones of her eating out of dumpsters and giving seniors the finger?___o idea,_ Martha replied.__h god_ I__l get one out of my wallet,_ Her mom decided, hurrying out of the room frantically. ...It__ funny how when one thing happens, it can make you forget about something else.

Alecto_ what do you think would happen if people found out about you? Your abilities, your life, Mearth__ super 8 films, those powers of yours_ how would they react?___ don__ know,_ said Alecto, __ut ordinary people like a show, especially when it__ a disturbing one. They enjoy seeing misery_ probably because it allows them to pretend that they themselves are not so miserable, too. Also, they would probably find out about you, how you know about Personifications, how you saw the films_ they would put us in cages and throw peanuts at us, I guess.___ll joking aside, Alecto.___ho is joking, Mandy Valems?

You don't have to be invisible to disappear.

Canada is a free country, after all.

Wendy__ house, unlike many in Cape Breton, had three floors, along with a basement and attic. Aside from Wendy__ bedroom, there was a laundry room. The dirty water in the sink would rush from the washer hose, bubbling up, threatening to overflow, but it never did. Next-door was a motel with a neon sign that read in turquoise and pink, __e have the best rates in town!_, but the ___ in __ates_ kept flickering on and off day and night so that every few seconds it would switch to, __e have the best rats in town!

I don__ want any other friends! They__ never be as good a friend as you are.

Sometimes Geraldine feels like she can drive forever. Maybe that__ partially why she took a job at Milo General Motors. Driving is the best means of escape that the human race has, at least, that__ her opinion. She__ never had the guts to try drugs before, both because her sister was a junkie in the last few months she knew her, and because she__ heard the overdose horror stories, seen 'Requiem for a Dream', smelled the vapours of a meth lab that Julia__ boyfriend built, heard the crunching glass of crack vials and heroine needles when they happen to break. Even this alone is too surreal, not to mention that if she were high or tripping on acid or whatever the drug of choice may be, this would give the ghosts more power to morph into something even more nightmarish than they already are.

Son, let me tell you a little something about the environment_ you can try to fix it up all you want, but it__ a waste of time. Sooner or later we__l all be doomed_ slaughtered by terrorists, baked in the heat of the sun, nuked until our shadows glow_ greed is good. We don__ exist to help other people, we exist to grow the hell up, have kids, get old and die, while consuming all we can. Nothing comes after. There__ no wrath, no day of reckoning_ we just go. POOF! We have no reason to aspire to change the world, son. We__l thrive by feeding off of whatever__ available. How else do you think we ended up rich? You don__ get ahead by being nice, Thomas.

Her laughter sounded like April showers, like whispered secrets, like glass wind-chimes.

I think we ought to find something else to do,_ said Mandy. __ut Alecto my love, you__e the first person to notice my retro diner kitchen. When my parents saw it, they thought I was creating a weird art project.___ like it. It's got that let__-drown-ourselves-in-better-days type ambiance,_ Alecto declared, his gray eyes narrowed.

And what if the other kids laugh at me?_ Kerry complained to her parents as she nibbled on a piece of toast that morning. __ have a Cape Breton accent! They__l know I__ from Canada and they__l start asking me if I lived in an igloo or ate maple syrup, bacon and seal meat every day!___ou__e really overreacting,_ Susan chuckled, sipping on a glass of orange juice. __anada is a lot like the States and the only thing separating both countries is an imaginary boarder! If anyone laughs at you, tell them it doesn__ snow year-round, you got free health care while you were there and that you never rode a polar bear to school. Besides, do you know how many popular movies and TV shows from the States were filmed in Canada?___t__ not just the Canada stuff mom,_ Kerry sighed worriedly. ____ from Dym, it__ an industrial dump!___eah, and have you looked at Pittsburgh lately?_ Susan asked. __ull of coal mines and steel mills, just like Sydney was when we lived there! I actually rather came to like the pollution, I don__ think I__ ever want to leave it.

I know what I'm talking about, Alecto! When I think of Jud, I think of the times he wanted to be a coal miner, the times he took Wendy and me sailing in the harbour, the times he showed me how to play soccer, but I forgot all the bullying and I__l never understand why. And now you ask me, you ask me what happened once we were in high school. You said you didn__ understand what having a family was like, so ask me!_ Mandy was shouting at him without even realizing it, her words sharp and unforgiving.___._ Alecto started, hesitating for a moment. __ou don__ seem like yourself Mandy Valems, not at all_.___o, go ahead! You want to know what having a real family is like?_ Mandy snapped, turning to stare at him coldly. __sk me what happened, I__l tell you anything you want to know!___What happened?_ Alecto asked quietly, looking nervous and confused.__ stayed late after school in shop class when I was in grade 9, trying to keep my lousy grades up. I was building a birdhouse, something like that, and that was when Jud and all his popular jock friends came storming in, laughing and swearing like a bunch of pigs,_ Mandy continued. __o ask me what happened next.____ I don__ want to ask you what happened,_ Alecto replied.__sk me!_ Mandy yelled.__lright, what happened next_?_ Alecto questioned.

One of the many downsides to being a drug addict is never really knowing if the stuff is real.

And what if you could go back in time and take all those hours of sorrow and insanity and replace them with something better?

Have you ever noticed how as an adult, all the bright colors go out of your life? Now that I__ not a kid anymore, things always look gray, like a clothesline draped with laundry that__ been washed too many times and left to stand in the wind. I guess that__ what growing up is_ it__ a fading photograph.

There's always one sure way of finding out that you're a misfit. When you're eleven years old, and your friends are telling you that they just sneaked into the theater to watch 'Twilight' and that it was "sooooo emotional and sooooo terrifying and soooooo romantic!" - but you've been spending the summer watching 'Rosemary's Baby' and 'Don't Look Now' and knowing the lines to all the Alfred Hitchcock films by heart - that's the moment you realize that you're a misfit.