Page 20 of Waking Olivia

"I'm here because it appears possible that I was wrong."

"That's big of you," she snarls. "The way you're conceding it'spossiblethat I'm not lying." She turns toward the door. "Thanks for stopping by. Come back if you'd like to tell me you think it's also possible that I don't deal drugs or poison children, and in the meantime, go fuck yourself."

"Sit," I bark, pointing at the curb. "And stop being a pain in the ass." She pauses, arms across her chest, scowling but not going inside either.

"How long have you been doing it?"

Her jaw shifts. It’s a conversation she’s dying to avoid. "Since I was little," she says flatly.

"Why?"

"How should I know?" she scowls. But finally she approaches, lowering herself beside me to the steps.

Her legs are crisscrossed with small scratches. The paramedics had mentioned it earlier, but at the time I was too pissed about her early morning run to care.

"What happened to your legs?"

Her jaw grinds. "I assume I ran through some brush," she says quietly. "It happens."

"It doesn't wake you up?"

"If it hurts enough."

I sigh heavily. I don't know what to do with this girl. That she hasn't been badly injured is a miracle. "Have you seen anyone? A specialist?"

She shrugs. "When I was a kid."

"It didn't help?"

She shakes her head. "It made things worse."

"How?"

She shakes her head again.

"You can't keep doing this, Olivia. You've got to stop."

"You think I don't want to?" she hisses. "Do you know how humiliating it is to be hitchhiking barefoot at five a.m.? To walk up to a stranger's door and tell them you have no idea where you are or how you got there?"

“Jesus Christ,” I exhale. “Whatever you do, don’t hitchhike.”

“I had to! I wasn’t going to make it in time for the meet otherwise.”

"You're going to get hurt. That's far worse than missing a meet. You've probably alreadygottenhurt at some point."

She closes her eyes. I'm beginning to decipher Olivia-speak. Anything that isn't flat out argument is unwilling agreement. She has gotten hurt, and I'm guessing it was bad.

"There's got to be some kind of sleeping pill they can give you," I insist.

"Yeah, and it'd make me comatose the next day. You think my run today was shitty? Watch me the morning after I take the drugs."

"Olivia, there are things that matter more than running."

She looks at me like I'm insane. "Not for me."

This girl. This stupid, stupid girl. Does she not realize how badly she could be hurt? How in a moment's time it could all just disappear?

"What about yourlife?" I ask. "Isn't that more important than running?"

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