jude

There__ something in my voice that brings him back to me, overrides his buzz. __aby___ll traces of playfulness have gone___f anything ever happens to me, you__l be fine. You__e strong enough to look after yourself. I hate to admit it, but you don__ need me. Never did._ A smile. __ut listen, nothing is going to happen today. It__ all good.___ude, we__e high enough up to get a nose bleed.___o come with me.__ blink. __uck off.___ mean it. We can do this together._ He raises his eyebrows at the girl who checked his harness. She nods.I risk looking over the side. There__ a river far beneath us. So far down we can__ hear it. My entire body goes numb.__ou__e got about thirty seconds and then I__ going on my own.__hat a choice: watch my brother jump out of this car or put aside my own fear and go with him. Share the recklessness. Why didn__ we go to Paris? We__ be arguing over where to buy cheese right now.Adrenaline begins to burn through me. __crew it.__ude breaks into a wide smile. __eriously?__ glance at the yawning space beneath us. __urry up before I change my mind.

The gods say that a man is made the way he is for a purpose, and to seek to alter that is -" "Then let the gods live a day in my skin before they judge me.

And the open road rolled out in front of us.

Reality wasn't as important as people made it out to be; to Jude it was simply the physical state in which he found himself, an environment he had limited control over.

Family tragedies had a way of smashing everything apart and then gluing it all back together. The problem was no one ever knew how long the glue would hold.

Jude was good. But he let his fear and jealousy get to him." Daniel shrugged. "'Fear leads toanger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to the dark side.

Everything just feels so empty without her. She was more a parent to me than my birth parents were. She took me in, fed, dressed me, but most importantly, she treated me with respect. She taught me that my abilities were nothing to be ashamed of, nothing I should try so hard to deny. She convinced me that what I had was a gift-not a curse- and that I shouldn't let other people's narrow minds and fears determine how I love, what I do, or how I perceive myself in the world. She actually made me believe that in no way, shape, or form did their uninformed opinions make me a freak.

I found the only place I ever wanted to live again in this girl, right her in my arms. I leaned back just barely, ran my thumb from her brow o the tip of her nose and stopped at her lips, loving the way her eyes fluttered. ____l always come to you.

The idea was a splinter in my mind. Always there, always stinging,even when I wasn't conscious of it. Even when I wasn't thinking about it.

Hi, I__ Jude Ryder Jamieson,_ he began, extending his hand. I took it, shaking it. He held onto it when I tried to pull it back. __y mom left when I was thirteen. My dad__ serving a life sentence for killing a young kid. I spent the last five years in a boys_ home being bullied, beat, and abused by the kids, the staff, and even the goddamn dog. I sold drugs. I did drugs. I got arrested. A lot. I screwed a lot of faceless women._ He paused, sucking in a breath. __nd then I met one whose face I couldn__ forget. I fell in love with her. I hurt her because I fell in love with her and was afraid she was going to leave me the way everyone else had._ He lifted his other hand, cradling mine between his. __ still love her.

Through pictures, we cut reality in pieces. We selected only the choicest moments, discarding the rest as if they'd never happened.