Page 13 of Amnesty

“You and Robbie do this all the time?”

“Not as much as we used to.”

“How long have you been friends?” I asked, taking the weapon.

“Since kindergarten.”

I paused, swinging around to face him. “That’s a lot of history!” I couldn’t even imagine… To have memories that went that far back. “You’re lucky to have a friend that long.”

Something passed behind his eyes, but it was unreadable.

“C’mon, let’s do this!” Robbie called.

After they both gave me a few more pointers, the three of us stepped out onto the field, and the game began.

I learned something about myself. Something to add to the list of things about me.

I sucked at paintball.

In all likelihood, I sucked atallsports, but I wasn’t yet ready to put that broad of a statement on my list.

Also, I didn’t get it. We literally ran from hay bale to hay bale, diving behind them for “cover” while balls of paint flew at our heads. Eddie and Robbie took this game seriously, though.

It was almost funny. Actually, itwasfunny. At one point, I started laughing at them and nearly got my head blasted with a random paint bullet. Eddie stepped in front of me, though, shielding me with his own body and taking the hit.

His body jerked in front of me when it hit him, and a sick feeling wormed into my belly, making me lightheaded for a moment. But then he was there, wrapping his arm at my waist and tugging me behind the next blockade.

Even though I stunk at the game, it was still kind of fun. I got some shots off. None of them hit anything, but that was okay with me. It was nice just being outside, listening to the guys trash talking each other, and listening to everyone else laughing and screaming around us.

It almost felt normal.

Like a normal fall day in Maine. Like maybe these were the kind of days I missed when I’d been missing… the days Sadie should have had.

You aren’t Sadie.

Eddie made a loud whooping sound, bringing me out of my dark thoughts. “That was the money shot!” He celebrated. “You see that, baby?”

I blinked, looking up from where I leaned against the hay.

“Am?” he said, suddenly serious. His body bent close, our eyes connecting. “You okay?”

“Of course,” I said, offering a smile he probably couldn’t see. “Nice shot!”

The corners of his eyes crinkled with his smile. He was covered in paint. Most of it was blue. Some of it was yellow and green, because at one point we all teamed up against another team.

We all teamed up = Eddie and Robbie ran in front of me and let me make poorly aimed shots that hit no one.

“Dude, I’m out of ammo,” Robbie said, coming around to where we stood.

“Good game.” Eddie offered his fist and they bumped them together.

Robbie glanced at me, his low whistle echoing beneath his helmet. “Didn’t even get hit once.”

“No one wanted a piece of this,” I said, tapping my chest with the gun I was holding.

They laughed.

How rude.

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